When do you stop trying to get to work?

[Skarossinkplunger]

I live in a rural area and the snow is really bad here this morning. Most of the schools in the county were closed yesterday and it looks like it will be the same today.

I work in a school in a city 30 miles away, which obviously fares better in snow and will most likely be open today.

Yesterday’s commute which normally
takes an hour was 2.5 hours of steering wheel gripping hell, which included getting stuck in a blizzard on a motorway and a 180 spin on the road out of estate.

I’m now looking out of the window and thinking I have to do it all again. When do
I just say ‘I can’t get in’?

Just checked my area and last year we had less than two weeks when the temperature dropped below 7degrees ! It was a very mild winter overall.

Glad you didn't have to make the decision in the end. For what its worth, I plan to use the train (and taxis to get to the station) tomorrow when more snow is forecast here. It will totally eat up my earnings so I will effectively be working for free but I feel that I have to go in.

@RhinoGirl if it's not safe then don't go. It's not just you who will be at risk, it's the emergency services who will have to come and save you if you get stuck.

Invest in some Autosocks! Doesn't help today, but for future snow days. They're much cheaper than winter tyres and do the same job. Just like a big sock that fits over your tyres and then you can take them off and put them away until you need them again.

Don't risk driving in this weather if they reopen tomorrow. You'll need a hell of a lot more time off if you have an accident than you will for one snow day!

" a 180 spin on the road out of estate. "

That's when I would have turned back!

(If I'd even gone out!)

We’ve been told by work that we must try and get in. I commute into London and there are no trains at all from my station at the moment. If they start running I won’t get in till late morning and then will have to spend the day worrying about getting home. The snow isn’t even that bad here.

I work as a nurse in an NHS ward. Thankfully I'm off today, but was in yesterday and will be in tomorrow. We have to get into work as you can't have a ward full of frail, sick people and no staff to look after them. In utterly dire weather situations the NHS Trust I work for will pay for 4x4 taxis to get people to and from the hospital, but obviously that's expensive and a last resort so in the main we are expected to get ourselves in. When we go in we also run the risk that if not enough people can get in for the next shift, then we won't be going home! It's a nightmare!

I do have some mild inner rage every time I hear someone say 'just say you can't go in' or 'work from home'. I'm sure the majority of people, like me, can't just 'work from home' or not bother going in.

Once, on a teleconference talking about the effects of severe weather on the NHS, I was told that one of the biggest impacts of cold weather was school closures as so many staff had to then stay at home to look after their children.

DH has gone in. He’s in the RAF and has a 49 mile, very rural commute. I wish he hadn’t. The main road A road is closed a bit further down, the road outside our house looks awful. All the local schools are closed. God knows if he’s there yet or not.

I would agree with that LadyLoveYourWhat. Unexpected school closures are an utter PITA in the NHS from a staffing perspective.

They really should be mandatory in the uk in winter

I disagree. You'd need to take a day off work to get them fitted and another day off work to get the summer ones back on, and you might never miss any days at all for snow or ice. And that's without the cost.

If you live in Scotland or North Yorkshire as examples, maybe. But most of the UK simply doesn't get enough snow. DS hasn't had a day off school for snow since 2010 (tomorrow or Friday may change that).

My public sector org bad weather policy says walk in upto 3 miles each way or 2hrs each way(they will cover the hours owed). Unless a illness prevents that. Otherwise AL, flexi time, next year’s leave.

Once, on a teleconference talking about the effects of severe weather on the NHS, I was told that one of the biggest impacts of cold weather was school closures as so many staff had to then stay at home to look after their children.

Well, schools aren’t babysitting services so people should have contingency plans in place.

I’ve not gone in. I got up, dressed and then looked out my window. Decided to give it a couple of hours and work locally....and it’s jusr getting worse and worse.

All the schools round me have shut. Which I’ve never known occur. DH said he always had snow days as a kid in the midlands, but growing up by the coast it was never that bad.

If it isn't safe to go in then you can't go in. It is absolutely not worth risking injury to go in.

A picture is a great idea. I work from home but have little snow but colleagues have tons and the pictures he sent are almost from another country!

My team has a whatsapp group and I like to see a photo of a snowed in car on the days where there is a little bit of snow but on a day like today it's obvious people can't work. Half of them are field based so their job is to drive around so if it isn't safe I don't expect them to work but if there is a light dusting and nothing more they don't take the piss

Personally I work from home 3-4- days a week and whilst this is fantastic when you have little children at home, it does mean that a snow day is a normal work day

I'm jumping on bicycle (knobby tyres) to go have a look around & see what the roads & footpaths are like. We all want a walk before long but I'm not sure about best route unless I can get DC to wear wellies. Wish me luck!

My public sector org bad weather policy says walk in upto 3 miles each way or 2hrs each way(they will cover the hours owed). Unless a illness prevents that. Otherwise AL, flexi time, next year’s leave

An absolute disgrace that workers have these conditions imposed I can only hope that the rule is a deterrent against people using very light snow as an excuse, and they aren't actually enforced.

Although when I worked an hour each way drive through London & out to Surrey for work daily, it always amazed me that a light dusting of snow prevented people who lived under a mile / 10 minute walk from the office from coming in

I'm jumping on bicycle

My 4ft fence is just poking through the top of the snow, a bike wouldn't stand a chance.

"Schools aren't babysitters so people should have contingency plans in place"

There isn't enough childcare in the country to handle contingency plans for all children being off school.

Blacktea, lljkk probably lives somewhere totally different to you. I’m in Bristol. Schools open and there’s no more than a light dusting where I am. Some bits are slippy but a bike would be fine.

We set off this morning and had to turn back. Cumbria is increasingly snowy and it was terrible this morning.

I’ve been trying to get to work since 6am . First I couldn’t get out of my village as two cars had crashed into the drain on the way out , and blocked the whole road with the rescue , then the main roads started closing one by one , until all my routes had problems , even though I use three different ones . The trains then started cancelling , and all the schools in the area have closed . Despite having cleared my car off once , it’s now buried again under a good six or seven inches of snow . It’s not my ability to drive I worry about , it’s everyone else’s . DH is out in Suffolk delivering , and he’s down to 10mph on the A roads, and he’s seen at least a dozen cars off road already .

my job involves a lot of driving around Scotland so work pay to have snow tyres fitted at the start of winter. Also, while I was debating going in today got an email saying CEO had declared a snow day and all staff were to stand down and stay at home.
My boss is stuck in Inverness but phoned to say he had his skis with him (seriously) and had rubbed two Boy Scouts together to start a fire so he was fine.