Snow In The U.K.- Britain Suffers Travel Chaos, London Shutdown

I had to add a few of my thoughts to this, being in London myself, and being directly affected by this "disruption"

It is laughable that this amount of snow could grind London to a halt, not completely, but certainly on the worse day (Monday) with apparently 6 million people staying at home, instead of going to work etc.

And they say this is not the worst of it, forecasters say Thurs will bring even heavier snowfall than we have seen so far.

No bread was available in shops on Monday, and pretty much everyone has had no postal service neither, schools/colleges shut, and the people who are lucky enough, are being sent home early from work to make their disrupted journey back home.

Something that made me chuckle today, when i asked a passing postman when did he think the post would get going again, he said only special delivery items were being delivered, but all other post, is suspended until further notice, apparently it was mainly a health and safety reason as to why we were not getting any post, as it has been deemed too dangerous to a postman's safety, in case he slipped on ice etc.... lol...

I remember doing paper rounds as a kid (1990-92), slipping and sliding all over the place, when London had proper regular winters, no health and safety concerns were thought about then

But hey, health and safety, and all that malarkey is a debate in itself.

So prepare for another London meltdown, Oops no pun intended, on Thursday...

I also find it funny, that no London buses ran at all Mon, and probably will be the same for Thursday, yet during the London blitz during WW2, the buses were always up and running the next morning....

Terrorists? They will never stop are day to day duties, but hit us with snow and we cant handle it!!

Oh and first post in ages, but glad to be back....



[edit on 3-2-2009 by Denied]

When the aliens invade the UK, they'll do it during a snow shower. When they invade America they'll do during an Election.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
When the aliens invade the UK, they'll do it during a snow shower. When they invade America they'll do during an Election.

now THATS funny

Originally posted by _Phoenix_
Like I just said, London is not prepared as much. Do you really want to put lives of children at risk, because you think it's pathetic?

Thanks for putting words in my mouth. As you yourself said, we're not prepared for it. That's what's pathetic. Nowhere did I suggest putting children's lives at risk.

Removed double post.

Added second line just in case...

[edit on 3-2-2009 by rich23]

Some facts for those who class everyone as brits who live in the UK.

England...London ground to halt due to snow, Scotland did not!

England nearly 600 schools closed.
Scotland , 2 schools closed

England, All buses, trains and planes in London cancelled.
Scotland, buses, trains and planes ran as usual.

England, 1,000 miles of cued, stopped, blocked traffic.
Scotland, we just got on with getting where we needed to be.

Uk media in England used words like, catastrophe, social breakdown, white-out, crisis and the most usual saying " We have never seen anything like it in 2 decades"...said by a reporter standing in 2 inches of snow.

The English authorities deserve all the lambasting they get for their approach to a bit of snow, just please dont class us Scotts as wimps and defeatists, cause were not.

Respects

[edit on 3-2-2009 by captiva]

Originally posted by captiva
Some facts for those who class everyone as brits who live in the UK.

Everyone who lives in the UK is a "Brit".

Originally posted by captiva
England...London ground to halt due to snow, Scotland did not!

Not really, the "shutdown" was mainly voluntary as many opted to stay at home, the buses stopped mainly due to "health and safety" concerns as they were slipping off the road and there were insuffient gritters in the entire of London to get out in time due to this being a once a decade event.

Also, gritting is a fine art, you need to do it before the snow really starts coming down, then you have to rely on traffic to grind the salt and snow together. As most people opted to stay at home, there was too little traffic to do this, so the snow just sat on top of any grit that had been applied. In this case, the snow came thick and fast. Once the gritters got out and traffic started flowing, most arterial routes were open and running.

Originally posted by captiva
England nearly 600 schools closed.
Scotland , 2 schools closed

Shall we look at the actual figures, rather than pretending Scotland is great and England sucks? Some 89 Scottish schools were closed in the Borders, Falkirk, East Lothian and Angus Council areas.

The numbers are also hard to draw a direct comparison due to their simply being a shedload more schools in England than Scotland, plus the vast majority of the Snow actually fell in SE England, not the North.

Originally posted by captiva
England, All buses, trains and planes in London cancelled.
Scotland, buses, trains and planes ran as usual.

Yeah, you know why don't you? Because compared to SE and Eastern England, Scotland got piss all snow, except in the Border regions.

Originally posted by captiva
England, 1,000 miles of cued, stopped, blocked traffic.
Scotland, we just got on with getting where we needed to be.

Again, because you barely saw any compared to what happened down south on Sunday night. You cannot compare in this instance. Shall I go and look at past heavy snow events in Scotland and see how you actually fare in comparison? Because I know you guys suffer just as bad when the weather decides to throw a wobbler.

Originally posted by captiva
Uk media in England used words like, catastrophe, social breakdown, white-out, crisis and the most usual saying " We have never seen anything like it in 2 decades"...said by a reporter standing in 2 inches of snow.

Agreed here. There media over-hyped the whole thing, but the media isn't the "People". Most people enjoyed the day off and played in the snow with the kids. The media needs to fill it's 24 hour news channels with something that'll draw viewers from other 24hr news channels.

Originally posted by captiva
The English authorities deserve all the lambasting they get for their approach to a bit of snow, just please dont class us Scotts as wimps and defeatists, cause were not.

Oh dear..... I'm not even going to go here...

FYI, Wales was hit pretty hard as well and probably, on comparison fared worse than London or the rest of England. I doubt you'll have an anti-Wales tirade though, that's not fashionable with you Scots, is it?

As it stands, the authorities did what they could in unusual circumstances. I was somewhat miffed on Monday morning to see snow blanketed roads, but come lunchtime, they were clear.

While you seem keen to distance yourself from being a Brit, I too am keen to distance the rest of England with what happened in London. Don't base your anti-English bigotry with what you saw on News 24 in London.

113 schools closed today in my area of West Yorkshire, roads lovely and clear for getting into work without all the school runs!!!

the press hve made a mountain out of a mole hill... still makes a pleasant change from hearing about recession.....

113 schools closed today in my area of West Yorkshire, roads lovely and clear for getting into work without all the school runs!!!

the press hve made a mountain out of a mole hill... still makes a pleasant change from hearing about recession.....

113 schools closed today in my area of West Yorkshire, roads lovely and clear for getting into work without all the school runs!!!

the press hve made a mountain out of a mole hill... still makes a pleasant change from hearing about recession.....

Cheer up...there is some good news!

I spoke to my sister who lives in England and she says the communities and neighbourhoods are having a great time.

People have abandoned their regular shuffling to work in their cars and are wandering round the streets. Everyone is smiling and actually talking to eachother for a change.

Snowball fights and snowmen for the kids and no commuting for a lot of parents.

All together now.....

"Well I wish it could be christmas every daayaaaaaay...."

At last the UK is getting back to normal - in terms of seasons.

We are experiencing a totally normal winter, which we have not had the likes of for probably 15 or so years.

We just don't get as much snow in the winter like we used to.

I think the birds and trees will really appreciate this winter, help to restore some normality in our natural evolution.

Yay for snow!

reply to post by TheAgentNineteen


LOL .. a whole 6 inches? .,. london bearly got anything, #Britain on a whole just got dusted.. for some reason i never understood, britain seems to forget that its quite common to get snow in winter in the uk .. just travel 500 miles up to aberdeen and you get more than 6 inches guarentees once a year but they never ever mention it!

basicly, its been a really really slow news week.. thats about it.. i still cant believe they stopped trains in london for a bit of snow!! i mean come on, i thought trains coudl handle a little ice !.. like i said, in scotland its way worse every year and the trains still run, life goes on... lol, dam southern softies!

reply to post by boaby_phet


Man that so gets a star from me.

In Scotland 6 inches of snowfall is average.
London stops at an inch.

reply to post by boaby_phet


Whatever you have been led to believe, the Scots do suffer when the snow falls. In December, 2008 they had heavy snow across Scotland and many schools were shut, A-roads were closed and motorways had severe disruption.

Even in this bout of snow, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports suffered flight delays and cancellations just like the us "crybaby" English, yet they had less snow!

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by boaby_phet

 

Whatever you have been led to believe, the Scots do suffer when the snow falls. In December, 2008 they had heavy snow across Scotland and many schools were shut, A-roads were closed and motorways had severe disruption.

That was a tiny pocket up the far north of Scotland and possibly tayside, but that was it mate.

I think it was Jan07 when we all had about 4ft overnight across the Central Lowlands - now that did hurt.

Our airports rarely 'close', delays yes, but rarely close. I live in the hub of Scotland, I know these things.

reply to post by Thistled


Shall I go through other past "snow events" then? Point I'm making is that your not something special up there and to here you all take the piss when you guys have problems every damned year is just a joke. At least we have an excuse about not being "prepared" as it doesn't happen often, you guys get snow every year and you still can't handle it.

Oh, Heathrow didn't close, per se. They just had the runways shut for a period. They had 40 snow plows in action but couldn't find anywhere to put the sheer amount of snow that fell.

I have relatives up in Aberdeen and I too "know these things" and yes, Scotland does go to pot when the snow falls, no matter what you'd have everyone believe. Edinburgh airport was closed briefly yesterday morning, as a matter of fact.

Originally posted by Thistled
reply to post by boaby_phet

 

Man that so gets a star from me.

In Scotland 6 inches of snowfall is average.
London stops at an inch.

Maybe people haven't been reading, in my area in London there was WAY over a feet of snow.....

I find it funny that you guys are trying to show off like your better or something lol.

[edit on 3-2-2009 by _Phoenix_]

reply to post by stumason


Edinburgh would have bore the brunt of it as it was a blizzard from the east. Over two feet fell above 200m but at ground level was gone within a few hours.

P.S. Falkirk is not in the Borders. The school in question was probably in the part of Falkirk which is in the hills.

reply to post by Thistled


I never said Falkirk was in the borders. I just listed the places that had disruption. And it was more than 1 school.... 89 schools across Scotland closed due to snow...

So, in your own words, the snow in Edinburgh was "gone in a few hours", indicating it was light and pathetic in amonts, but you still closed Edinburgh Airport? I thought you guys could handle it?

PS: I find it Ironic that Edinburgh, the Scottish "capital", was actually founded by the Anglo-Saxons and only became "Scottish" in the 10th century when the Danes left....