Did the Uk get caught out by the weather?

[Harsh]

Or is it simply the fact that because we dont get these sort of conditions often enough we simply cant justify the expense of the infrastructure necessary to deal with it when it does happen?

if thats the case though why do we also get water shortages?

[Dan H]

Ok, first one - the latter - we don't get it often enough to justify the additional equipment required to mean we could cope if it happened.

Second one, water shortages due to lack of storage / wrong sort of rain ;) & piss poor pipework.

[Harsh]

i was quite happy to give the government as a whole a bit of slack over our inability to deal with the snow. London hasn't experienced weather like this since 1991.

However when i read that we're now likely to run out of gritting salt, i changed my view.
story here......
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7872192.stm

we get black ice and bad weather conditions all over the country every year....
we use a lot of salt every year.
how the hell can we run out?

ok, so we only get snow like this in London once every 20 years or so, but Scotland and the north of England regularly do get hit by these conditions.

so, knowing there's another load of snow on the way for the UK, are we arranging to 'borrow' snow plows and get more salt?

are we f**k, we're saying look after yourselves, pack a spade and a blanket and make do.

cretinous at best and at worst it's tantamount to manslaughter.
People WILL die on the roads because the y have not been made safe.
Frankly if anyone i knew was injured or killed on the roads because of government inaction i would feel very aggrieved indeed.

[Grant306]

i was quite happy to give the government as a whole a bit of slack over our inability to deal with the snow. London hasn't experienced weather like this since 1991.

However when i read that we're now likely to run out of gritting salt, i changed my view.
story here......
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7872192.stm

we get black ice and bad weather conditions all over the country every year....
we use a lot of salt every year.
how the hell can we run out?

ok, so we only get snow like this in London once every 20 years or so, but Scotland and the north of England regularly do get hit by these conditions.

so, knowing there's another load of snow on the way for the UK, are we arranging to 'borrow' snow plows and get more salt?

are we f**k, we're saying look after yourselves, pack a spade and a blanket and make do.

cretinous at best and at worst it's tantamount to manslaughter.
People WILL die on the roads because the y have not been made safe.
Frankly if anyone i knew was injured or killed on the roads because of government inaction i would feel very aggrieved indeed.


Strong post, but i agree with you wholeheartedly. Couldn't have put i better myself!