Forum Topic

Gritting 28/02/17

Did anyone see any gritting lorries out today?Having set out at 05.45 the roads were thick with snow & frankly dangerous.I saw 1 truck by Argyle Rd A40 & another spreading at one other location.They did not seem to be out in force with treacherous road conditions.I also feel the routes need to be updated (although the main arterial roads seem untreated). many side roads need salting as a matter of urgency

Peter Yale ● 2954d7 Comments

Amey is the recycling & gritting contractor, who incidentally treat employees like dirt.Funny that if we as the public put refuse out early we are fined.Yet a bit of snow & health & safety goes mad everything stops.The roads, especially those with inclines need urgent attention, for example Robin Hood Way Greenford, a driving test location.Queens Walk W5.

Peter Yale ● 2953d

The focus is on having the main arterial routes gritted therefore allowing buses, delivery lorries and vehicle traffic to move efficiently. Granted I haven't actually seen an Ealing gritter at work (apart from on the A40 and A406) but I have seen evidence of gritting on the main roads in Ealing which seems to be working as the build up of snow is minimal. It's a shame that side roads aren't a priority but it would be impossible and costly to grit every road in the borough - maybe its time to bring back yellow grit bins allowing residents to grit the roads/pavements?

Kris Smith ● 2953d

They are the recycling / rubbish collection teams and so the rubbish / recycling is suspended whilst they are gritting.

Daniel John ● 2953d

This morning I saw pitshanger lane and other roads were gritted which made my journey to hanger lane a lot easier as against yesterday when it took me 40 minutes from Hanwell to Hanger Lane on the Ice. The North Circular, M1, M25 and A10 on my route to work were so smooth both today and yesterday were brilliant with not much traffic. what is silly is Paddington closing. I remember when they refurbished it. I thought then that the Marble flooring was a stupid idea!! Whose clever idea was that!!!???? Image rather than substance has become a very modern British trait!!I was working in the middle of Sweden in December and it was around -10 but everything worked smoothly. Driving a hire care through the dark countryside on the snow was quite easy.

Peter Chadburn ● 2953d

No gritting in the side streets near Ruislip Road. Goodness knows what the Council Tax is spent on. It also probably means no dustbin collections as well.

Ian Fergus ● 2953d

Where do the council get the gritters from? Everything is subcontracted now, so a specialist gritting company must have limited resources for 8 or 10 days use a year.

Fred Hunt ● 2954d

Funny you should ask. I was wondering where they were.The FIRST gritter I have seen this winter just (18:04) went down my road. We got them in previous years when the conditions were never as "bad" as this. With all the advance warnings this year, they should have been out Tuesday evening.(I grew up in a country where this would be considered a minor snowfall-and where people use winter tyres in, er, winter-hence the quotes around the word "bad")

Terry Freestone ● 2954d