We perhaps thought this line had disappeared into the archives, but in Devon it’s back although this time for the roads not the railways.
Back in 1991, British Rail’s Director of Operations Terry Worrall was quoted as saying “we are having particular problems with the type of snow” which was translated in the Evening Standard as “The wrong type of snow” causing the railway disruption.
Now the phrase is back to describe why Devon council didn’t grit some roads resulting in the county being more or less cut off from the rest of England for several days.
Alan Muncaster of Dorset County Council is quoted in the Independent as saying “The problem was the snow was quite wet. I know there are jokes about the wrong kind of snow – but with that amount of water, it washes the treatment away”.
Living in Cumbria we do get a fair amount of snow from time to time, although surprisingly not a huge amount this year, but I’ve never known the council to not grit because the snow was too wet.
Sometimes the grit will be rained off or wash away with the meltwater, but it is still vital to grit as it slows the formation of ice which is a lot more dangerous and hard to remove when compacted. Surely even councils in areas with limited snowfall do understand this?
