extrucker:
I know gritters were out on the M25 because at J24 about 0300 one of them overturned,so I can 100% say they were out and about
Theres aimers and theres drivers,
we can guess which one he was then … 
hope he was ok though .
.
. ermm boss , my plough seems to be on upside down … derrr 
Put chippings down instead of salt,thats what was used prior to salt being used in the late sixties,gives you some bite on top of hardpacked bladed snow.Sweep the chippings up when the snow has gone.
afaik, they dont use “grit” or chippings or fine graded roadstone dust any more in uk,
it`s all rock salt and brine mix now , which is next to useless on top of snow and packed ice. 
Strange that our european counterparts can still manage to travel when their conditions are much worse than the uk . 
Graded grains make finer flur.
We make a blend of 6mm gravel mixed 50:50 with sharp sand which the local councils use on footpaths and in the grit bins so they keep the rock salt for the roads.
I’ve still not yet had any trouble, went all over the country last week, finished around dinner on saturday, drove home, today I’ve been Glossop, Salford and Leeds then back to Manchester and no problems with the roads at all.
To be fair,
on the bus route I drive, dagenham to ilford, since the cold weather has arrived I have seen gritters every night.
Have just got home after recovering a car from Cartgate A303 Somerset, to St Austal, A30 Cornwell. On the way down, saw 1 gritter in Cornwall, and thought…Yeah abought right.
Dropped off the car and came home.
Cornwall roads? HATS OFF TO YOU GUYS… 2 lane D/C both lanes clear, even though it was snowing like a bar stererd. Fantastic job well done lads.
Into Devon(south)
OK Guys, I know it is not you, BUT, the planners are on a different world to the gritter drivers.
Saw a plough/gritter doing a layby, and thought, Brilliant, Cheers Guys, Now we can park AND get out of the layby.
A few miles up the road, saw amber lights ahead and came up to a plough/ gritter. tha road was covered in snow, and more was settling.
Was the gritter spreading?
Don’t be silly…I followed it to the next layby, where it went into the layby, droppedthe blade and started to grit.
The A30? Nahh Forget that. Planners must have said
“Do the laybys”
Exeter and beyond was fine .
I can ■■■■ a job up quite easily, so can I get a job as a gritter planner and if so, what does it pay?
I take it all back I actually saw 3 gritters today, however none were spreading the stuff. If they need some rocksalt i’ve got a bag in my garage
we need some of these
and these
groovy greg:
we need some of these
Not according to the ‘experts’ like btd etc.They’d need to take a gas axe to one of those drive axles before they’ll let it out of the yard.
Muckaway:
… Maybe one of the highways guys can enlighten us but isn’t it got something to do with the salt not working under certain conditions? Or maybe the authorities are worried about running low on salt?
In Finland road administration doesn’t suggest using of salt on temperatures below -6C or -7C. Reason for this is just like you said, effectiveness of salt diminishes rapidly below that temperature as water-salt-liquid (created by salt melting the snow) begins to freeze. Pre-wet salt can be used on bit colder temperatures (maybe up to -8C) to diminish the ice cover roads tend to get when it’s cold enough for long enough time. Catch in this is required traffic volume, which must be high enough to dry up the road or it gets worse than it was before salt was spread.
groovy greg:
we need some of these
…
Those side-mounted ploughs are exactly what you’d need along with scrapers under bellies of dedicated snow ploughs. Check out video Truck 1 from following site http://www.arcticmachine.fi/en/arctic-machine/media-bank to see side-mounted plough in action.
Who is in charge of snow clearing in Heathrow, not scaryfart by any chance?
Wheel Nut:
Who is in charge of snow clearing in Heathrow, not scaryfart by any chance?
If he is then you won’t see many of his ramblings when I get my hands on him, my wife is stuck in England because of the LHR fiasco, she was due to fly here Saturday, then Sunday, now she’s due to arrive in Calgary (a mere 850 miles away from home) on Xmas day at 3pm, her connecting flight is 7pm Boxing day so I’ve got to drive a 1700mile round trip to pick her up, all because of a bit of snow FFS, we’ve got it up to our armpits here, planes still fly
I’m not a happy bunny right now, so if it is you cranialvoid, run and hide, you’re on my list 
Mark, can she not get a different flight from maybe Schiphol to Minneapolis? Surely the airline would have to refund her as it is not her fault?
I’ve tried that, no way to get out of England though Of the 1300 flights that come and go each day at LHR they managed to get less than 20 out over the weekend, there’s a huge backlog and the job is [zb]ed
Any good mates would hop across on the Stena boat? Give them a chance to top up on beer at the same time. The Flight to Minneapolis is generally Lufthansa and then Delta up to Winnipeg. Only trouble is double customs if she leaves the secure area…
newmercman:
Wheel Nut:
Who is in charge of snow clearing in Heathrow, not scaryfart by any chance?If he is then you won’t see many of his ramblings when I get my hands on him, my wife is stuck in England because of the LHR fiasco, she was due to fly here Saturday, then Sunday, now she’s due to arrive in Calgary (a mere 850 miles away from home) on Xmas day at 3pm, her connecting flight is 7pm Boxing day so I’ve got to drive a 1700mile round trip to pick her up, all because of a bit of snow FFS, we’ve got it up to our armpits here, planes still fly
I’m not a happy bunny right now, so if it is you cranialvoid, run and hide, you’re on my list
Blimey yet again I get the blame and it’s got zb all to do with me.I keep telling you that we get a few inches of snow here and the place is zb’d but you keep saying they should just park up and wait for the weather to get a bit warmer which will probably be around April this year. But my connection with airport trucks was all fire fighting ones and LHR was even to tight fisted to buy any of the best ones because they preferred using a lot of smaller ones instead of a few larger ones instead and that was even before I went on the council. :roll But coincidentally one of the reasons seems to be that planes have got frozen onto the ground so they can’t shift them away from the terminal .So obviously your idea of rolling the thing a bit after a minute or two from landing did’nt work and they should have listened to my advice about putting something under the zb wheels instead.
If you leave yourself wide open then expect broadsides.
Besides, of course it is your fault.
Carryfast:
newmercman:
Wheel Nut:
Who is in charge of snow clearing in Heathrow, not scaryfart by any chance?If he is then you won’t see many of his ramblings when I get my hands on him, my wife is stuck in England because of the LHR fiasco, she was due to fly here Saturday, then Sunday, now she’s due to arrive in Calgary (a mere 850 miles away from home) on Xmas day at 3pm, her connecting flight is 7pm Boxing day so I’ve got to drive a 1700mile round trip to pick her up, all because of a bit of snow FFS, we’ve got it up to our armpits here, planes still fly
I’m not a happy bunny right now, so if it is you cranialvoid, run and hide, you’re on my list
Blimey yet again I get the blame and it’s got zb all to do with me.I keep telling you that we get a few inches of snow here and the place is zb’d but you keep saying they should just park up and wait for the weather to get a bit warmer which will probably be around April this year.
4 engines on the plane i’m afraid, now if only they’d put 2 on with 2 tag engines it wouldn’t have got stuck
Don’t airplanes normally have lift axles??
That must be why they got stuck then… 