Quote endoman="endoman"From a mate on another forum who controls the gritters
gritting the roads is a very expensive operation, and grit/salt is pointless noce you get more than a fow inches of snow. I don't know why some people seem to think it is some sort of magic fairy dust, it isn't. Once it has been put down it takes time to work, following a gritter up the road won't make an ounce of difference to whether or not you're going to make it up that hill. But driving over it and workign it into the snow/ice will get it doing its job for the people coming up the road later on. In fact, one of the ways I can see what time a road has been gritted here is by looking at the temperature readings of the road surface thermometer. The temperature drops sharply once salt is applied. Try it, get a jug of iced water and stick a thermometer in. pour in some salt and watch the thermometer, it will go down before it goes up.
I have to deal with stupid questions from stupid people, but unfortunately I can't be as honest with the truth as I'd like to be. here are some FAQ's and the honest answers.
"why hasn't my road been gritted?" I'll tell you why. It is because there are more important roads to grit than yours, the resources are best used on main roads, hospital approach routes, school routes, bus routes and so on. If you really insist on having your road done, we will gladly accept a donation for the cost of another vehicle (£100k will get yo a cheap one), contributions to drivers salary (HGV drivers) and charge you for the salt/grit, call it £60 a ton including delivery. We don't accept western union or paypal i'm afraid.
"I fell off my bike because you didn't grit the road" I'm not surprised, and you're an idiot thinking you can ride a bike on ice. next time you try doing something stupid can you ask someone to film it for me?
"the grit from the lorry hit my windscreen when it went past, can't they turn it off when cars are coming the other way?" No. because idiots like you will complain then that the roads have not been treated properly.
"can someone come round and put some grit on my path so i can get to the pavement frmo the front door". No, take responsibility for your own property and your own actions.
"i live opposite the council yard and haven't seen a single gritter go out all week, i'm not going to pay my council tax until you sort it out". you are either a liar, blind, don't know what a gritter looks like, or haven't been sat twitching the curtains while they have been going in and out of the yard.
"we're the local radio station, can we come and take photographs of the salt stock?" why? seriously, why? if you concentrated on your radio station you might actually be able to get some listeners, leave the stupid photo taking to the crappy local paper!!!
"we're the crappy local paper, can we come and take pictures of the salt and then tweak the image so that it looks like the pile isn't as big as it is and despite the fact there is actually enough there for almost 2 winters (approx 800 tons), and that if you need more salt you can get it in a few days, we will make it look like there are only 2 days supply left to try and shift papers". sure, fill your boots.'"
I have a mate who does the same at Bolton council, people just need to open their eyes and look at the bigger picture.
