banhambuilt

finally had some snow in stoke
got about 3" on the ground.

everyones running around like the world has ended,get a grip!

as some of you know i work on the motorways,my depot at knutsford services has had about 6" since 9 last night.

we have 4 gritters there and they have been none stop since then.
on average our wagons use between 10-13 tonne of rock salt per trip (takes about an hour). so every trip just at our depot uses between 40-50 tonne.

all told just our firm covering the northwest area has 10 depots with 3-4 gritters at each depot.

so you can see we can get through over 500 tonne of rock salt a day,the suppliers cant deliver it fast enough.

i am in at 8 tonight till i don`t know when gritting,normal working hours go out the window when snow or frost is about.

wish me luck

dave

xr2wishy

iTrader: (2)

could do with some down my drive lol!
my xr2 turbo is stuck on my carpark at the rear and a big slope leading to it.
it's a lot of salt and rock though ain't it, snow chains will be made for next year i think

cossiejsy

good luck dave tonight

COCHYN

Well, its about 3 feet of snow here at the mo and still snowing hard. Poor litte runaround Puma is stuck at the bottom of the road and my county has run out of grit....not that it feckin' helps here!

Looks like emergency shipment to come from Finland again this year....good old predictable Britain, prepared for anything!!!

Adam31

Well said mate,I'm in the Police in Strathclyde and guess what?....its my fault that its snowing and the roads are shut! Well apparently according to some of the public. We know that you guys are stretched to the limit, everyone says that you must not be working, its madness. Some people just don't realise how much salt is required if the weather is like this.

craigybaby

know the feelin mate i work for my borough council so have to follow a flat bed transit and shovel the grit on the roads for the bin trucks always gettin moaned at what more do the public want im tryin my best

Matt_16v

Well you know, councils are doing what they can. What's the alternative? Spend a few mil buying a load more trucks and a few thousand tons of grit during the year just in case it snows for a few days out of 365?! Totally not worth it. People would be up in arms about 'wasting taxpayers money'.

I think when something out of the norm happens you just have to get on with things the best you can and quit bleating about it! Makes my piss boil when you see these see coonts ready to jump on any little thing thinking they've got all the answers. To all those people, could you have done any better? No, so shut the fuck up!

kosman

i used to work for a massive haulage firm and we delivred salt all last year all over the country from winsford,it was amazing how much was used,i saw a field full of salt disappear in a day,there were that many lorrys there one day that i waited a whole day to get loaded then i took it to council yard at notts jnc25 of m1 and there was someone waitng for me because they were that desperate,i dont know why councils dont stockpile it,they used to up here but they dont bother anymore.

kosman

and if the snow catches griiters out,artics cant deliver salt anyway,so its no-ones fault except mother natures,it pisses people off but for a couple weeks of the year we can deal with it.

Ryan_3

no matter cars rust as fook out there

banhambuilt

this is the thing,we do stockpile it (on our contract anyways)

we have massive salt barns at our depots that on average hold about 5-600 tonne.
we have 3 light use depots that dont grit but were fully stocked with salt in the summer.

this is now being being shipped to our biggest user depots on 6 wheeled tippers.

the general public just dont know what is being done to roads,the thing is,if the motorway is closed there is a massive inquiry by the highways agency into why and sometimes that will cost the firm maintaining that motorway a massive fine.

some of our lads missed christmas day all together as they were keeping the wineing public mobile,what thanks do they get?

a few years ago it happened to me,got called at 00:00 on christmas day and never went home till 18:00 on boxing day,my 4 year old was gutted to say the least.
but we have to get on with it as its our job.



dave

Psycho Warren

iTrader: (5)

the problem probably isnt the gritters but the slack jawed faggots that make up most of the driving population!

Most of them have no clue about snow driving and are too afraid so they drive too slowly or panic and block everything up.

Another example, a hill near me, roads 3 cars wide so plenty of room, some poof who is afraid to drive down just stops blocking the road. Then some stupid woman driver tries to come up the hill too slowly constantly slipping clutch and wondering why shes wheel spinning all over the shop when she reengages clutch! fucking retard bint! Now yes i have 4wd but an aggressive clutch and tons more power yet i had no problem driving up hill in gear at a steady and slow pace without spinning the wheels at all. in fact the only problem i had was when catching up with mentioned retard bint and not being able to drive round her due to the faggot whos afraid of driving down the hill! Seen similar situations loads and it snarls up the roads and loads of people then get stuck all because of fucking retards who dont know how to drive!

We need a serious view of driver licensing. note how all the scandanavian countrys and most european ones dont have the same problem as they specifically teach adverse weather driving and we dont!

Sure in some conditions its just not possible to drive but in this country id reckon 90% of the problems are caused by poor driving.

Combine this with the general lack of driving skill on the roads maybe its about time for a compulsory 5 yearly retest for EVERYONE! not same test as basic learners but a safety orientated one, looking after car, motorways, hazard perception, awareness etc perhaps along the style of the IAM type assessments.

Would force a load of shit drivers to buck up or get off the road. 5 yearly tests means they are doing it regular enough for some of it to sink in rather than the current brain dumping of skills the second you pass the test.

jammerrs

its bloody shit drivers not the councis fault.

a tteacher at my school in a mini put it into 1st full revs, off the clutch and wonders why it wouldnt move

then another woman in a bmw dug out the front wheels and tried to set off again

Psycho Warren

iTrader: (5)

bint with the bmw fucking brilliant

snOOpy86

iTrader: (1)

Going by my 6 and a half hour drive home from work the other week in the snow that is only about 15 miles, i realised that the problem wasnt the roads/snow/ice it was the stupidity of other motorists wheel spinning - tailgating - abandoning cars/vans/lorrys in stupid places making roads inpassable!!

Matt_16v

When we had to snow last week i was driving up a straight 2 lane road on my way home from work, bit of a hill i'll admit, and as expected it was 10 mph behind a huge queue of cars. Totally without warning and without indicating this bell end in a newish Mondeo pulls right in front of me, and just he did the trafiic stopped, then as he went to pull away again he must have booted it, and just sat there with the wheels spinning! So i and then everyone behind me just went round him! Had a look as i went passed sure enough there was the look of sheer panic and terror in the guys eyes! Idiot. Couldn't help but think that if i could manage it fine in a 12 year old Escort with cheap tyres he really should have been able to as well in his new car! Sorry, but how much of a dick would you feel sitting there while everyone just drives past??

Fast Guy

I drive a gritter for the local council and I'm staying at home tonight as they are "going down to 3 crews to preserve the salt" ie we're running out. We do stock pile the grit in summer but it soon goes down. I can't believe they aren't having us out ploughing what we can though before it all turns to sheet ice.

And yes the total incompetance of most drivers in these conditions is absolutely staggering. People crawl along at 2mph and get themselves in problems or put the brakes on and just keep them on until they hit something. If the conditions are so bad that you have to go so slow, STAY AT BLOODY HOME!!! (or walk)

banhambuilt

my runaround for this evening and beyond



the plough when running is 18" wider either side than the motorway lanes

get out my way,lol

dave

kosman

have fun in the badboy,how do you get on working for council doing things like that? i fancy doing it,i know they wont be recruiting now but for the fututre like,ive got me class1 had it a few years.

banhambuilt

kosman
im dont work for a council,its whats known as a term maintence contract directly for the highways agency.
the workforce is tendered over to who ever wins the contract.
since i have been on this contract with is known as area 10 (the country is split up into areas, see highways website for detail) there has been 2 different contract winners,amey mouchel and A1+.

it seems to be dead mans shoes sort of thing.
i normally do the barrier repairs but we are all trained to drive the gritters.

just about to go work but when i have time i can explain a bit more and how to apply.

hope this helps
dave