To think the bloke who told me off for taking grit out of the grit bin should fuck off

[Birdbox181]

This morning, I had to get my elderly neighbour to a hospital appointment. She has bone cancer in both hips. Her drive way was very slippery this morning. A fall for her could be fatal. She's on crutches.

I drove to the nearest grit bin I could find, filled a bag for life, probably a quarter full and put it down on her front door step, drive way and the pavement outside her property.

As I was putting it into my bag a bloke stopped and reprimanded me, telling me it's not for private use. I explained the situation and but he wasn't interested.

What an absolute cock.

In the winter I would always salt my own path with grit from the local hardware store. Part of owning a pathway in winter really. You can buy small salt storage which we had and then you can easily scoop it as it’s heavy

There are 53 houses on my estate and we have 2 council grit bins! I've looked back at the Google Streetview images and 15 years ago we didn't have any. I did hear a story about a big crash on one of the corners though, so chances are the council installed them after that.

As I said in my earlier post, the places where the grit bins are never get any sunshine in winter, so don't get a chance to defrost on days like this.

If you live somewhere that could benefit from a grit bin, contact your local councillor or the council directly. We have a really good local councillor that's campaigned on our behalf a few times for matters on our estate and has achieved good results.

The gritter used to do our wheelchair ramp when it went past. People here telling you off should use some common sense.

Maybe the man, if he wanted to feel neighbourly, could have bought some grit for the elderly lady instead of getting at the OP. For everyone saying you should buy your own, what do they expect the elderly neighbour to do? Even she had ordered some off Amazon do you then expect her to lift up the bag and put the grit over her drive whilst supporting herself on her crutches.

Well my mum buys her own and we spread it for her. We spread for the elderly gentlemen next door too but again he buys it.

I’m another who thought that’s what it was for we live in a cul de sac full of oaps if we didn’t do it they wouldn’t have got out at all this week bless em

Maybe the man might have felt more neighbourly if the OP or her neighbour had actually been neighbours and not total stangers from somewhere else taking the grit intended for their neighbourhood? And yes, she could have ordered it from somewhere and the OP could have spread it - or did you think the OP dumped her bag of grit on the ground and expected her neighbour to spread it.

FWIIW I am elderly, disabled and unable to stand without using both hands for sticks or a rollator, so I can't grit my drive either. Which is why I order my grit online, have it delivered, and the neighbours son spreads it when he does hers (which she also orders on line).

You're right about the cost of a hip replacement however, when you have bone cancer in both hips, a replacement isn't an option, the result would be a very painful death.

This wasn't my path, it was my neighbours.

Driving around hunting for one does imply you are stretching that a bit

Oh don’t worry it’s OK, she didn’t have to drive around hunting, it was only three streets away so she knew where to go. So it’s good that she was able to help her neighbour with bone cancer get to her hospital appointment. So everything worked out well.

I've already addressed that. It was 7.30 in the morning and we had an hours drive to the hospital. I didn't have time.

Our friends who live on a public road (not unadopted) on a steep hill have large council-provided grit bins; one at the top of the road and one at the bottom.

Maybe the elderly neighbour hasn't had the problem in the past, but what with now suffering from bone cancer ordering grit on line might not have felt like a priority or had been on her mind.

Wow, so the grit police still exist, even when there's so many fewer times we need to use the grit!

There used to be a grit bin at the bottom of my parents' road - a massively steep cul de sac. I used to go and take a few of buckets to throw up the top of the road/hill, because many of the residents were pensioners and reliant on driving (this was early 2000s).

Some twatty man one day jumped out at me and started lecturing me about 'using the grit' - erm... mate, it's frozen snow, it's like an ice-rink, when do you reckon we should use it? He wasn't having it.

I nicely told him I wasn't going to argue with him, and continued to fill my bucket. He told me he was phoning the Police. No idea if he did, but I like to think he gave them a laugh.

But yeah, gold star to all you guys who order grit. Doesn't make OP unreasonable - she explained it was a one-off.

That is the case here, but if you did it for someone who was merely frail to help them not fall over and break their hip or something else, it would still be a more sensible use of public funds.

Who knew that people were so territorial about their grit bins? I don't even know where our nearest one is. But because we live near a school people come up and down the road frequently and soon crunch salt from the main road into our road anyway.

Just noticed on our village page that a group has gone out and gritted all the retirement bungalow paths and steps to the road with shock the public grit bins. I expect they will be awaiting their imminent arrest or lynching. Or in reality, what's happened is that all the people commenting have said well done and thank you, including a few of the town council members. You'd have to be some kind of super twat to begrudge an elderly person with bone cancer a few shovels of grit so they can safely get to the car to go to a hospital appointment.

Honestly I pay a fortune in council tax and all I use is bins and grit so consider my excess funding payment for any grit you use - sprinkle it liberally with my blessing x

Sprinkle

I did the same for an elderly neighbour in a similar situation in the last snowy spell.
Technically it’s not allowed but from a moral and common sense standpoint I felt no guilt whatsoever!

I don’t give a flying fig about rules where I’m from we don’t let little old ladies risk falling or going without because they’re trapped at home by ice

Do you not get your roads repaired, pavements maintained, street lighting fixed, streets cleaned, walk through a park, street signage maintained, use a bus stop etc?

This has got me really riled up. This man’s attitude sums up everything that’s wrong with modern society.

Road nope massive pot holes paid for by road tax. Streetlights once changed to led don’t require much maintenance . no parks near me so I don’t use those. The street sign for my house has been there for 50 years without being replaced so I’m sure I’ve paid for that a few times
over. I don’t use bus stops but all the ones near me are signs on lampposts so v little maintenance. We have a litter picking community group so that tells you how often the council ‘clean’ the streets. I forgot to say I use the dog poo bin.

pretty sure I’m in credit

and I drink lots of wine so the council make money recycling my empties

@ElaborateCushion
If there are 52 houses in your estate then presumably sine are further away from the bins than others. Are those furthest away allowed to use the grit? What about people just outside your estate rest might be closer to the bin than those in the estate that are furthest from the bins.
I live on a 50mph road. Houses are really far apart. There is a grit bin in each direction of my place about 2 miles in each direction and there are no clusters of houses around these bins. So who is allowed to used these bin in your opinion? Do you honestly think only the 2 or 3 houses nearest each bin are allowed to grit the pavement near the bin. 🤣