Snow ticket for a day off
I AM a single Parent living in Crosspool, my 11-year-old son goes to school at Tapton and I work in Doncaster.
On Thursday, February 5, like the vast majority of people, I battled the snow to get to work for 9am. I had been at work for just 15 minutes when my son called me to say that the school was closing due to the weather and I needed to come back to collect him.
So, the school was expecting me and hundreds of other parents to make the journey to Tapton to collect our children because a number of their teachers could not make this very same journey! What madness and this was the second time in a week.
I did make the journey and lost another day's pay.
Tapton is a fantastic school, but when is something going to be done about the ridiculous attitudes of teachers who think that snow is somehow a ticket to an extra day's holiday at everyone else's expense.
Name and address supplied
THIS morning my husband went for his treatment at the Sheffield dialysis centre in the Heeley area.
On his journey home the taxi was unable to drive down our lane. The driver was very kind and walked down from the shops on the Crookes main road with my husband to our house.
If the taxi driver who walked with my husband is reading this letter I would like to say a big thank you to him for seeing my husband home and safe.
Jane Coulston, Newent Lane, Crookes
I AM disgusted at the way this city has handled the once-in-18-years icy blast.
Last Monday I rang the council requesting the services of a gritter as we live on a very steep road which runs directly out on to a main road. I was told my request had been logged.
No gritter materialised and being the understanding soul that I try to be, I appreciated that it was priority to keep main highways open. A group of neighbours therefore got together and dug, salted and scraped our way to a slightly safer road and as a result our grit bins were empty (they were never full to start with).
On Tuesday I contacted the council again, and asked for at least a grit bin to be filled. I was told that someone would be around asap.
It's now Thursday pm - two to three inches of snow, two car accidents and I have phoned the council yet again. This time I was told that there is a five-day wait for grit.
I note your story (February 5) about the council urging the public to do their bit with the grit from the bins – but with what grit?
A very disappointed and upset Oughtibridge resident
I MUST praise Street Force. I rang them on Wednesday to tell them the grit bin on our cul-de-sac of disabled and elderly persons bungalows was empty. It was filled Thursday morning!
Stuart Deighton, St Michaels Crescent, Ecclesfield
OVER the last five years, the roads have been treated so bad during the winter that there's no wonder Sheffield came to a halt.
Years ago we had normal flatback lorries with a gritting unit on the back with a conveyor releasing salt directly on to the road.
On the front was a snow plough and after one run down a road very little snow returned.
The flatback lorries were used all year round for other purposes and the gritting unit stood on legs in the yard.
Now we have gritting lorries that are a waste of time, the salt is put on to the road via a rotating dish. There used to be a chute under the dish that directed the salt on to the road but because there is no chute all the salt finishes in the gutter.
To cap it all there is also less salt being put on the roads.
These gritters cost around 120,000 each and are stood some nine months of the year.
And as with all the services we pay council taxes for it is being erroded every year and wasted on needless schemes.
SB Faulkner, Rockley View, Tankersley, Barnsley
I attempted to drive to work today via my little boy's nursery. I had to give up because conditions on the road were dangerous. I couldn't get home so parked my car as safely as I could, leaving nearby drives clear, with a view to collecting it later.
I returned armed with a shovel to retrieve the car to find that the person whose house I had parked by had cleared their drive and piled the snow in front of my car.
Can I nominate householder X of Brooklands Avenue as the least community-minded spirit in S10 if not the whole of Sheffield?
Brendan Lawrence, School Green Lane, Sheffield 10
I WAS waiting to see if a bus would come at 7am, because I saw one go up to Birley so thought it would come back down when this driver came from town. However, he asked me if I wanted to get on his bus and go to Birley to come back because he was the next bus down.
I did so instead of standing in the cold.
He was polite to other passengers too, even stopping people on the street to ask if they wanted to get on and waiting to see if others were coming for his bus.
It's not often you get drivers like him so I want to say a BIG thank you to him and all the bus drivers who did absolutely excellent in the bad weather.
P Holmes, Basegreen Drive, Sheffield
WHEN seeing traffic stuck in the snow, it's usually at the start of a slope. Would it save valuable grit if only the up and down bits were gritted? On the flat drivers take care if the road is not gritted.
Mind you, notice how they still cosy up to the car in front.
Ken Moody, Waterthorpe
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
