Scottish transport minister resigns over travel chaos

[borderslass]

here

this is becoming a snow martyr-fest

I did shovel when she slept, my point is that I barely made any progress as there was so much of it. It took 7 hours to clear our part of the drive FFS. We're not talking a light dusting here.

This isn't about me, or even about Stewie's intrepid shoveling exploits. It is about a lack of infrastructure. The council have responsibility to take reasonable care to maintain those footpaths for which they are liable. Maybe we should all be paying a bit more council tax to help them to do this but the SNP have, in their wisdom, decided that it should be frozen indefinitely.

This isn't North America. We pay much higher taxes and expect in return to see a greater degree of public services. Maybe we should abolish the NHS while we are at it too and follow the American model there?

Buy a snowblower if your drive is so long it took 7 hours to clear.

It didn't even take me that long to do half a car park in bloody Canmore in the middle of January, and it was coming down heavy as I worked.

How you get it off your roof.

You mount a ladder with a broom.

'Stewie's intrepid shoveling exploits'hahahaha

naw, seriously, it's been a feckin farce where i live... it's one thing digging out your bit, etc it's another when, like me the other day, it takes 2 hours to walk 600 meters with a small child so they can be seen at the doctor surgery. the roads were unsafe, no grit, not ploughed, nothing, (for a week and a half) the pavements were unwalkable for a child and there was no way of taking a buggy. i tried to get her there using a sledge but the mounds of snow from people clearing their paths/drives made it unpassable. i ended up carrying her and the sledge and trying to walk through often thigh high snow. had a small pathetic sob to myself at one point when DD demanded we go home, her hands were blue (kept taking gloves off) and she was wheezing (hence the dr appt). i fell about 4 times and got to my appt an hour late.

a few days later it melted a bit and THEN they ploughed my road.

i can understand a few days of lack of council action but considering my road is priority one, the delayed response was disgraceful. needless to say, no bin pick up for over two weeks.

When I saw how much my teenagers earned from clearing snow in front of the neighbours' houses, I wished I'd offered to do it!

Stewies, Canmore is so gorgeous! Lots of good times there, as the ex h, loads of friends and I went every winter. Them for ice climbing, me for some backcountry skiing. In late spring, we had some grand adventures climbing at Lake Louise, and once, the big boys went for Mount Robson.

I think people need to start doing their bit, yes.

You can say, 'Well, I'm not used to it,' but it's not a hard thing to learn.

I grew up in a place where there was never snow and lows even in winter are about 15 degrees, maybe.

But was somehow able to learn to shovel properly, scrape the car, get snow off the roof, etc.

It's not hard.

The roads, yeah, that was bollocks. But well, Denver city council used to rely on teh fact that any snow they have usually melts quickly.

I have to say, we actually looked forward to being in Canada in winter because the roads were actually looked after very well.

I think everyone is personally responsible for ensuring that they are prepared (adequate footwear and clothing, food in the car, winter tyres/snow chains depending on driving pattern). We should all be clearing pavement outside our own homes etc.

But Scotrail and a lack of snow ploughs for the motorways need to be addressed too.

And don't spray magnesium sulphate on the road in advance of forecasted snow storms.

On topic, however, millions of pounds in trade have now been lost:
nomoreonlineordersforscotland

What's wrong with spraying magnesium sulphate? I thought it stopped ice and snow sticking to the road, making it easier for snow ploughs?

This is a disaster for businesses across Scotland - so many people are forced to commute due to house prices in the major cities, and if those people can't reliably get to work in winter because of the state of the roads and rail, it damages Scotland's competitiveness.

Sorry, I meant to say they don't spray it here.

At least, I've never seen it.

Not sure why they don't. They use normal gritting lorries fitted with an attachment to spray it in the US, no special vehicles needed.

YY, the most important thing it does is prevent black ice from forming under the snow.

It's not 100% effective, but once Denver started using it in the 1990s you really noticed a difference.

Lots of grit bins here - though I have to say we actually found it easier on gritted but not cleared pavement to walk - not sure why this is. Most people were pulliung children about on sledges.

Apparently there is a government committee called Scottish Resilience! It is on the Scottish Government's website.....

here

Scottish Resilience is part of the Scottish Government. It provides practical support to the frontline agencies that deliver fire and rescue services and emergency planning and response across Scotland. It also provides advice to Scottish Ministers on all aspects of fire and rescue services and civil contingencies.

They really came into their own last week then...

bit rubbish for you up there! bbc report on internet orders

I didn't shovel....because I don't have a shovel and can't get one! Sold out everywhere.

No one could have forseen the weather over the last 2 weeks.

Even if someone did say it is going to be bad so don't drive....how many of those people stranded on the M8 would actually have phoned into work and said they were not going to try? Hardly any I expect.

This week might be different.

Further, where I live is a small cul de sac of 3 houses off the main road. We managed to dig some of the drives out but got stuck as there was no where else to put the snow - the plough on the main road blocked us in everytime it cleared the road.

I appreciate things are different in the likes of Canada. You are geared up for it. We're not - end of story so no point in arguing about who did what and who was capable of shovelling!

I can quite honestly guarantee that my husband would have told me to fuck right off after his 24 hours being stuck on the M8 and me asking him to shovel the drive! oooh and before you ask, I was working too and got stuck for 16 hours. I was more concerned for DS than shovelling snow.

The only thing this country seems to have in infinite quantities is the number of people who always have an excuse as to why they can't help themselves or do their own bit . . .

Well, the snow's coming back.

That was forecasted. In fact, a hard winter has been forecasted by just about every news source.

So I'm sure you ordered those shovels the day they were out, so now you're sorted for one or will soon be getting one.