We need snowploughs, not high-speed trains
Tuesday 21st December 2010, 8:58AM GMT.
Britain has just ground to a halt thanks to a few inches of snow, writes Peter Rhodes.
The Government says preparing for such weather would cost billions.
And yet this same Government is happy to spend £30,000 million on HS2, the high-speed train which no-one wants and which Britain certainly doesn’t need.
That £30,000 million would buy an awful lot of snow ploughs.
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A little bit of self-reliance would go a long way.
Instead we seem to want ‘the council’ or ‘the authorities’ to magically remove all trace of snow before it has even finished falling.
Even if we cancelled the high speed train project and invested all the money in snowploughs and gritters (where on earth would we keep them during the 10 months of the year they are not needed?) then we would still not be able to instantly eradicate the snow.
Instead we should all learn how to drive correctly on snow, and carry a few simple extras in the car to enable us to get out of difficulty (a folding spade, some boards to put under the wheels to gain traction, some warm clothing, and a bag of road salt/grit).
I despair when I see drivers trying to get up a moderate incline in first gear with their engine at full revs, and wondering why they are making little progress.
In countries where snow is much more of a problem, it is law that some of the items mentioned above are carried.
People in Canada, Northern America, and Scandinavian countries must find news reports from Britain absolutely hilarious in such times as these.
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Spot on! Why waste money on equipment that not only wouldn’t be needed for 10-11 months of the year but not even in most years? I don’t want my money going on a snow plough that gets mothballed for 3-4 years at a time.
Yes, other countries deal better with the snow but, as you implied, they KNOW they wil be getting it and they are prepared because it is cost-effective. And drivers are also prepared because they are used to the conditions.
Every time we have some disruption there’s some moaning minnie complaining that ‘we are the laughing stock of Europe’ or some such nonsense. Snow is a relatively rare and usually trivial event in this country. Two years of snow on the trot is far too early to decide the climate has changed and we should all have snow chains and a snow plough on every corner.
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when you say they dont use them 10 out of 11 months of the year is not ture when weather gets so hot the tarmac starts to disintagrate aka its need grits thats in the extreams weather witch we will need in years to come
also the lorries aka griters can be multi tasking roles like dump trucks becouse the back can be removed just like a side loader. allso you can use them to carry sand or soft soil if the council will ever needs there probly 101 reasons why you can use this kind of truck
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excellent suggestions David. A little bit more personal responsibility and planning would go a long way.
Perhaps your logical approach is common to all those who share your first name?
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I really get brassed off listening to the whingeing about the snow. All these people flying away for Christmas: don’t they realise there is a chance there will be bad weather so why risk it? Getting children to tip out on a winter’s day in the hope of flying off to some sun idyll. HELLO – IT’S DECEMBER!!
The guy from Heathrow said there is 50 ton of snow underneath each aircraft and even if they shifted it there is nowhere to dump it.
Taking the risk of being stranded in an airport at Christmas is like the morons who go hiking on Snowdonia during a blizzard wearing shorts and flipflops.
Don’t they realise you can’t always do what you like when you like?
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take a look around, the midlands is die-ing.
We need that rail link – ideally from somewhere not Birmingham International as you are half way to London from most of the midlands there. Try Worcester or Wolverhampton.
and i agree above, training for driving in the snow for 90% of people would help alot.
When i suggested to a taxi driver (who was getting stuck) to use 2nd gear to pull off yesterday, he looked at me like id gone mad – jeez.
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I actually do live in Canada these days, although my Mom is still in Great Barr. What do you guys do with road sweepers through the winter, we put ploughs on the front of ours, hence becomes a 12month piece of equipment. Others are just on the front of council lorries which are used by the parks department through the summer. Yes we do have some special equipment but most are add ons to our city fleets. Salt hoppers can be purchased for any thing from a pick up truck to a full size dump/tipper truck. They are all removable so it doesn’t have to sit their year after year waiting for the next big one. Even when I lived over there, I remember Forge Lane from the Sandwell Crem to to the Baggies groung being closed for four days due to lack of equipment.
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“We need snowploughs, not high-speed trains”. This is the most idiotic headline I have read for a long time. The snow will be gone and forgotten in a couple of weeks. The high speed trains are essential if the UK is to remain(?) a modern, competitive economy. Who says no one wants the high speed trains?
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We would gladly send you Sarah Palin and her family to serve as consultants on your snow issues free of charge. You will save your money in exchange for hearing such classics as “Oh, look Todd, I can see Ireland from my house” to “That darn BBC is part of the lame stream media”. Peter, I think she would make a great neighbor for you and give you countless articles to write about. Perhaps you could even change the name from Walsall to Walsilla just to make her feel at home. Break out the guns fellas, it’s moose huntin’ time in Black Country, you betcha’.
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What a truly silly blog. Actually what we need is snow-ploughs AND high speed trains. The trick is balancing what the country needs with what the country can afford and doing so over a sensible period of time. Yes, we could buy enough snow ploughs to deal with the worst the weather can throw at us, then find that they’re sitting idle and unused next year and the year after if the winters turn milder. You still wouldn’t be happy though, would you? No doubt then you’d be moaning about the number of high speed rail lines we could have built for all the money wasted on snow ploughs.
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Moxey’s hair gel – He probably looked at your like you were mad because that’s what he was already doing.
I got stuck getting over a speed hump in the snow, and had about six people come up to me suggesting I pull away in second gear. Told them that’s what I was doing, and they still said “Go on, give it a go” as if I was lying or something!
Far too many people who whinge and moan and reckon everyone else is doing things wrong. We all need to just get on with things and help each other out – I got out of my tight spot because someone kind and sensible helped push the car and shovel a bit of snow.
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