Bare in mind that only roughly 50% of the continent have mandatory tyre requirements. The problem at the moment, as I see it, is sustained cold rather than the amount of snow.

True, though the cold leads to ice.

As far as I'm aware you can't actually get snow tyres in many of the popular garages at the moment, perhaps the first step is for them to stock the tyres?

Disagree there. A true continental climate would mean snow arriving in November and lasting right through to April or even May. All we ever get is relatively short periods of moderate snow interspersed with milder periods with rain.

Unusually, we currently have a high pressure system much further west than normal and it's blocking the usual Atlantic frontal systems we should get. Where these warm fronts meet the cold air mass, it snows.

http://www.tyres-online.co.uk/techinfo/wintertyres.asp

Winter tyres for my car are about £65 each upwards, plus the cost of extra wheels to fit them on.

Snow chains or socks are a far more cost effective solutions for our climate.

Hadn't thought of that and of course you can fit snow chains yourself.

Oh Hugh. I love you too. Big hugs and kisses from TDH. I think you may be sad and alone at this time of year. After all who would put up with you?

hmmmm... <thinks about earlier comment> Nah, I'll stick with my earlier 'Pathetic'
Do you work in HR by any chance? In a management position then? Would you use a similar selection technique if you received a job application from a black, disabled, lesbian person who previously worked for the Council??

Agreed. The 'Silent Majority' are called that for a reason...... Normally there's more of them than the 'Vocal Minority' .... and there only a TINY minority of contributors to this forum in comparison to town population...

BTW..(returning for a moment to the thread topic.. ) I understand that some of the latest stock of road salt that WBC have acquired is not the standard stuff which has been mixed with molasses. The stuff they're spreading now is just your ordinary white salt with no pre-mix. There may be grit mixed while stocks lasts but otherwise it may look like nothing has been spread on the road, even when a gritter has just gone past.


Anyway...back to some personal digs....

Reticence should not be seen as an endorsement of anything! Just because people don't post, or say anything, doesn't automatically mean they are satisfied.

1. I'm not likely to answer your questions is you start them by calling me pathetic.
2. I cited three sources of comments from local residents because you can't measure silence. Of the places I stated if you look, there is more dissatisfied than satisfied remarks.

In todays climate you take jobs that you may hate and often have to stay for a long time. Most of the admin side of the Council would be back office and never see a customer.

Very touching, I'm sure, but what are all of us to make of your claim to have seen a a traffic warden ticketing a car that had obviously become stuck in the snow yesterday?

It all seems to have gone quiet after you asked him where and when this was.

Newbury station have done quite well - platforms reasonably clear. Basingstoke, Reading, Reading West dreadful. Nevertheless, the trains were running so FGW have at least made an effort

Helped myself to salt from the bin outside Council Offices!!
I need to get in and out of my property and make the path safe outside my house.
Plenty left in the bin, go help yourselves!!

This definitely needs updating, as they haven't gritted at all into Hermitage and towards Yattendon.

Forums like this really do bring out the worst in people, don't they? We Brits were once famous for the Dunkirk spirit. Anyone judging the British character based on the (majority?) of posts here might conclude that the Aussies are right when they call us whinging Poms.

Luckily the real world isn't like this at all. While many posters here whine on (some of the serious whiners have hundreds and even thousands of posts to their 'credit', I see - get a life, people!) I've come across numerous examples of true community spirit over the last few days.

Re. the endless whining about West Berks Council, there's good and bad in all organisations. In my experience I have far more bad experiences with useless private sector organisations: garages that try to rip me off, badly run supermarkets, useless airlines, endless waiting on awful oxymoronic 'customer service lines', the pathetic salt suppliers who have failed to meet their customers' demand (and had to be ordered to give local authorities priority over private sector companies, for feck's sake!). And don't even mention the banks!

Some people are using the cloak of anonymity to vent their neuroses about 'the powers that be'. Fair enough, but before judging the whining Newbrarians too harshly we must remember that one in four of the population will seek treatment for mental illness at some point in their lives.

At least in the private sector, one often has choice. The only real issue I have with our council is their spending on projects I would see as being almost grandiose. I certainly don't blame them for there being difficulties due to the snow and ice. This is a nationwide issue and WBC's stocks were as high as they were permitted. I did think, however, that the first snow we had just before Christmas, that there was some 'under salting', but main routes are OK at the moment.

I would answer your question Hugh but I really don't have to justify what I saw with my two eyes to a twit like you. So in summary if you were on fire I would not urinate on you to put you out.

Certainly you don't have to justify what you claim to have seen to me but, if you wish anyone else on here to believe your stories, maybe you should provide some details otherwise your credibility may be seen to be somewhat lacking. Just say when and where you saw this alleged incident take place, please