Monday 25th October 2004

We won't clear roads, says council

Moray snowploughs to shut down after 2130 this winter

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With a winter forecast to be among the coldest for years, a northern Scottish council is refusing to offer a 24-hour road-clearing service. The result could be chaos as the snow piles up.

Claiming it cannot afford to provide the service, Moray  Council has also not trained newly-recruited gritter vehicles in time for winter. Councillors reportedly say that low road usage of roads mean it is not worth gritting after 9.30 at night, although they reckon that "priority roads" will remain passable -- this means A and B roads.

Community representatives reportedly called this "unacceptable" -- effectively they'd be unable to go anywhere at night, though with the local Speyside whiskies to keep them warm, you'd wonder why they'd want to...

However, doctors and other emergency services do still need to be mobile.

[lanciachris]

Lovely.

So they can afford to pay for the lawsuits that will probably result but not to keep the roads clear...

[reAnimate]

Proof enough if anyone needed that the safety policy is all about £££ and not keeping you alive.

- Happy to pop off speeding motorists, but can't be 4rsed "afford" to grit potentially leathel roads and make them safer coz "we fon't have to / can't afford it"

Not surpriseing when MP's are claiming 120K a year expenses such as free appliances, grants towards houses etc.

[james_j]

reAnimate said:

Proof enough if anyone needed that the safety policy is all about £££ and not keeping you alive. - Happy to pop off speeding motorists, but can't be 4rsed "afford" to grit potentially leathel roads and make them safer coz "we fon't have to / can't afford it" Not surpriseing when MP's are claiming 120K a year expenses such as free appliances, grants towards houses etc.

Proof indeed of the authorities' true priorities.

[Apache]

I grew up here, in the past you could count on heavy snow in the winter (Aviemore and the Cairngorms became very popular because of it) Recently however things have changed drastically. There are sh1tloads of minor roads up there and it must cost a mint to clear them all so I'm not surprised by their decision

[accident]

i wish our local coucils would refuse to clear roads in snowy weather.
i have rwd and some mucky/snotty tyres and snow is the best.
some people stay home.some poeple come out and get stuck,but i go aout and slew about,gritters hate being overtaken,softroaders are as crap in the snow as they are in the wet,supercars dont play in the snow,all the jap rally 4wd lookie likies are crap in the snow as they still have the big boots.
my personal fave is towing a toyota lambcrusher out of a drift in a cortina(ok i had studs and an lsd)but it shows that the wrong car with the right kit is better than a great off roader with crap tyres and the wrong suspension.