Boris Johnson

[buccal]

One night of snow (in winter) and the whole of the capital city is at a standstill.

Boris think's we did well:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/4436073/...

Gobsmacked

[elster]

Well he cant exactly say half the council staff are lazy b*st*rds.

[tinman0]

ref said:

And he praised the Londoners who made it to work this morning, saying he would suspend the £8 congestion charge as a thank you.

blimey.

[Twit]

Unbelievable!!!! From what I read it was a shambles! I said read because I couldnt get anywhere near the place because the trains weren't running up!!!

[gtr-gaz]

Hmmm, judging by his hair, it looks like he had to walk to work this morning

[Super Bad]

buccal said:

One night of snow (in winter) and the whole of the capital city is at a standstill.

Childs play!! Having spent 2 years in Canada a few years ago I know the meaning of the word "Winter"

[Zod]

wish he'd announced the congestion charge suspension this morning, then I'd have parked in the office.

[Getragdogleg]

Boris is just making the statement his position demands, the fact is that we as a nation (mostly the more southern end i will grant you) are simply not used to having snow.

Our roads are not prepared properly for it, our councils are not prepared for it and our drivers are not prepared for it.

I live in Cornwall and we have had a fair bit today, Lots of people skidding into each other, going too fast, braking too late and generally trying to drive like they normally do but not getting away with it today.

If we were to have snow in decent quantities every year then people would learn to buy winter tyres/let air out of the tyres/drive slower and brake less but the simple fact is we dont get the snow often enough for most folk to pick up the tricks and skills.

I find the only thing that stops me when driving in thick snow is the other road users who have got stuck or just stopped because they are too scared to go on. I rescued a couple last year who had sat in their astra engine off, with lights and heater blower on until it ran out of battery, then they started to get cold. All this was played out in the middle of the A30 in snow about 2 inches thick, they were lucky I had a jump pack and got them started again or they would have frozen. The whole road was stopped except me, i got past all of them in a 1980 Manta. (which was excellent fun and despite only having 12psi in the tyres oversteered very well when i wanted it to) I went past range rovers, toyotas and other 4X4 stuff that was driven by people who had no idea what their vehicle could do.

Its not their fault, they have never had to learn how to drive in snow so a small amount and the country folds.

Edited by Getragdogleg on Monday 2nd February 17:35

[Twit]

Getragdogleg said:

loads of stuff all true

But London this morning was a shambles, all the buses suspended, the tube system collapsed and most of the roads were untreated. Couple that with the complete inability to actually get into the place on the mainline trains and it was a bit of a mess. I suspect London 'coped' because most of the people who should have been there were not!!

[10 Pence Short]

Twit said:

Getragdogleg said:

loads of stuff all true

But London this morning was a shambles, all the buses suspended, the tube system collapsed and most of the roads were untreated. Couple that with the complete inability to actually get into the place on the mainline trains and it was a bit of a mess. I suspect London 'coped' because most of the people who should have been there were not!!

Looking at the amount of snow in London, if the buses had run they'd have clogged up the road system completely and Boris Johnson would now be facing an enquiry as to how they could be so stupid.

[Getragdogleg]

I had a giggle about the underground system being closed though.

Loads of snow down there.

• i know some of it is above ground*

[Twit]

10 Pence Short said:

Looking at the amount of snow in London, if the buses had run they'd have clogged up the road system completely and Boris Johnson would now be facing an enquiry as to how they could be so stupid.

Agree! But seeing as just about everyone in the country had at least 2 days notice of how bad it was going to be, I would have throught there would have been a plan to keep the roads clear and transport running etc.

Countries that actually get a lot of snow and cope must be wetting themselves!

[siscar]

10 Pence Short said:

Twit said:

Getragdogleg said:

loads of stuff all true

But London this morning was a shambles, all the buses suspended, the tube system collapsed and most of the roads were untreated. Couple that with the complete inability to actually get into the place on the mainline trains and it was a bit of a mess. I suspect London 'coped' because most of the people who should have been there were not!!

Looking at the amount of snow in London, if the buses had run they'd have clogged up the road system completely and Boris Johnson would now be facing an enquiry as to how they could be so stupid.

which is pretty much what he said - 12 tons of bus on compacted ice and snow doesn't help anyone. A lot of the problem was that we rely on salt to melt snow and that only works when there is a relatively small quantity. They treated the roads but there was more snow than the salt could cope with. The only way to deal with that is to push the snow out of the way but it happens so rarely there aren't the snowplows to do the job.

[GKP]

gtr-gaz said:

Hmmm, judging by his hair, it looks like he had to walk to work this morning

He rode his bicycle, as usual.

[siscar]

Twit said:

Countries that actually get a lot of snow and cope must be wetting themselves!

If they get a lot of snow they would have the equipment to deal with it. We don't so we haven't got the equipment. Do you want billions spending on kit that will hardly ever be used?

[Captain Cadillac]

I suppose he handled it as well as he could given the circumstances. Everyone seems to be upset about the lack of snow plows, but let's face it, how often does London get, say, 2 inches or more of snow that sticks to the ground? Once every 5 years? And this is the worst storm in nearly 20 ffs.

Here in the New York City area we get snow like you guys just got a few times per winter, so we have the equipment to deal with it. Had we gotten the same snowfall, a few schools might have been closed, the commute in the morning might have been tricky but life would have largely gone on as normal. London could have pulled that off too, they'd just have to buy about a thousand or two snow plows at $125,000 each.

[Gunny Sergeant D]

We get f'all snow, most of the time. Hence we dont invest is the infrastructure to deal with it when it arrives simple.

Hats off to Boris, he got off his arse and got into work and put an incentive in for others.

This thread is pure politicl point scoring.

[cardigankid]

The real problem is not any of the above. It is that so many 'workers' look out of the window, see that it's snowing, and realise that they can take a day off without the slightest chance of being criticised, never mind losing any money. So they do. Starting with those working in transport. Then everyone else does the same. And they will do it again tomorrow.

And eventually, it will become a cause for complaint to be forced to go to work in adverse weather conditions in Britain. Sad country with far too many useless losers.

[Getragdogleg]

cardigankid said:

The real problem is not any of the above. It is that so many 'workers' look out of the window, see that it's snowing, and realise that they can take a day off without the slightest chance of being criticised, never mind losing any money. So they do. Starting with those working in transport. Then everyone else does the same. And they will do it again tomorrow.

And eventually, it will become a cause for complaint to be forced to go to work in adverse weather conditions in Britain. Sad country with far too many useless losers.

All true as well, couple that with my post and it a wonder anything got done today.

[eccles]

cardigankid said:

The real problem is not any of the above. It is that so many 'workers' look out of the window, see that it's snowing, and realise that they can take a day off without the slightest chance of being criticised, never mind losing any money.

What's you definition of a worker?