HCC and most other English councils have had to cope with snow & ice for the last two, out of the last ten years. Most Canandian authorities know they will have snow & ice for a certain number of days per year, each & every year.

It would be a bigger waste of resource if HCC budgeted for snow clearing and it was never used, money wasted in fact.

I agree to some extent Coddy but the frustration comes from the total lack of; interest/care and planning.
I went out around the city yesterday and there's still people walking on the roads (some with their dogs) because the paths are treacherous. This wasn't just 'my' area, this was Cottingham/Hessle/Anlaby.
They had the gritters out down Cottingham Rd at 5.o.clock last night and it was probably the warmest it's been for days.

Nice and clear down my street now....lovely

Road salt comes from Cheshire mines and is untreated mineral salt. The problem with salt is that it doesn't last unless it is stored correctly i.e. undercover, that's what those hulking great barns are that you see close to motorways. Unless it's stored undercover rainwater will leach it away into watersystems with the consequent pollution problems. A crust also forms (marle) that is virtually impenetrable, the big problem if kept in the open is, the salt only lasts for about one season before it becomes useless.

I remember christmas 1969 or 1970, when it started snowing on christmas night, by boxing night, the paths were knee deep in the stuff. Diesel taxis stopped working because their fuel froze, buses stopped running, the city was at a virtual standstill and do you know what? Nobody moaned about it, probably because many could still remember the winters of 1963 and 1947. Even the winter of 1979 didn't provoke as much moaning as now and all were far worse than anything currently experienced.

The problem we have today is a generation who expect everything to be available, instantly, all year round. The furore over airports and the Channel Tunnel closed because of snow & ice, just before christmas was laughable, again due to everyone expecting that the weather should just "go away" because they wanted to go on holiday.

Council vehicles are now operated at a close to 100% utilisation because they are audited and financially penalised if found to be inefficient. It costs £100s to keep a gritter, of course the councils could specify demountable bodies, so that they could be swapped and used for other duties but they'd then fall foul of accusations of wasting money. Most gritter trucks are 4x4 or 6x4 and some even 6x6 (I know because I have supplied many of them to numerous councils all over the UK), to use these on duties other than gritting would be viewed as overkill and the inefficiency argument again comes into play.

Seems like councils and public utilities cannot win: they'd be accused of waste if they had vehicles & salt available "just in case" and neglect if they don't.

Looking at most shopping trolleys on christmas eve, it's a wonder anyone would NEED to venture out until Lent.

they can't grit everywhere, hotham road is a nothing street so i wouldn't expect it to be. but i don't think it's unreasonable to expect the city's main shopping streets to be cleared during the week before xmas.

not to fussed about the paths now, but would the council please get off their @rses and empty the over flowing dog bins!!

I know they should get off their @rses to sort out the new bin collections. We have an overflowing blue bin and an empy black and brown bin and another 5 days before it gets emptied. HCC need to change the collection and have the (now overflowing every fortnight)blue bin emptied every week and the (now empty except dog poo bags cos all the bins are overflowing )black bins emptied every fortnight.

For me it’s a question of priorities, such as a BIG screen TV in the city centre playing to drunks and people that have nothing better to do.
Or keep the roads/paths clean and clear. Mmmm let me think about this one.

Build a big stupid water feature on Spring Bank that never has anything other than urine and litter in it.
Or help the aged and lesser mobile live a normal life. Mmmmm

Promote a ‘COG’ as an emblem of the city. Or?

Spend thousands on fireworks every year. Or?

Spend thousands on Christmas lights. Or?

Let a big fat East Hull MP rip us off by claiming for household repairs etc. Or?


I think you get the gist of my ‘rant’

Should have tried walking to school in 1962/63,the big freeze.No fancy protective clothing then,walked to school with wellies on a size too big,big marks round the top of our legs when we got there.It was either that or sannies with cardboard to cover the holes.Remember standing on monkey island and looking at the frozen up River Humber,it was like the Arctic.So much for winter rugby.

As Hull White Star says our road is very bad still ice on it now ps white star nice xmas lights p

Most of it is packaging which is for recycling. My hubby received new shirts for work, have you seen the packaging just one shirt comes with, thats not me creating waste, thats manufacturers overkill.

So do what I do - dump it back on the supplier.

I've come seriously close to being banned from my local Morrisons, just for stripping packaging off at the checkout. When the lady on the till called the manager, he asked what I was doing. When I asked him why Morrisons felt the need to shrik-wrap a swede, he backed right off.

A shirt comes with a bit of cardboard to stiffen it, a couple of clips or pins and possibly a celophane bag - how many shirts diod he get FFS?