Wednesday 23 December 2009

More stories from the gritting front line

A friend who lives in Sadberge phoned Darlington Council to complain that the salt bin on their road was empty and to ask if it could please be re-filled. He was told by the Council that there was no salt available to fill up the rural bins. He was told, "The Town Centre takes priority, you know".

My friend asked the Council employee to repeat what he'd said, so he could record it. The salt bin was filled half an hour later!

What a shambles this has been. Try telling the shoppers and retailers in the town centre that they are the priority: we had to wait FIVE days for the town centre pavements to be cleared. And then they say they don't have enough salt to service the villages.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shopping in Darlington in the Christmas week has been hard due to the adverse weather conditions this year, but I would have to disagree with your comments about waiting 5 days for the pavements to be gritted. I was in town everyday during the last week and have seen the council workers clearing pavements and spreading salt by hand.

Mike Barker said...

Hi anonymous. You're right. Post House Wynd was gritted once before it was finally cleared. I should have written "cleared", not "gritted". The one earlier attempt at gritting was ineffective and the Wynd remained under snow, ice and sludge for five days until the mechanical gritter and snow clearers got to us.