Do we need a German style snow clearing law?

rynnor

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In Germany everyone has to clear their paths/road outside house etc by something like 8AM and can be fined if they dont.

Is it about time we had something similar in the UK given the number of snowy winters we have had and the impact on the NHS and the economy?

It might even engender a bit of community spirit?
 

Gwadien

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In Germany everyone has to clear their paths/road outside house etc by something like 8AM and can be fined if they dont.

Is it about time we had something similar in the UK given the number of snowy winters we have had and the impact on the NHS and the economy?

It might even engender a bit of community spirit?
What if you're single and you work night-shifts?

Oh, and people have been trying to - using local grit boxes and stuff, but then claims that people have been 'stealing' grit in order to grit the smaller roads/paths near their houses.

Can't win really can you? :p
 

rynnor

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What if you're single and you work night-shifts?

JS.

You ask a neighbour or friend to do it - you can even hire people to do it for you in Germany - it all works out and they never need to shut schools etc.
 

Raven

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No, we don't.

We pay council tax, amongst other things that pays for gritters to clear our roads. I am sure we can manage with the few inches we get a year to not die by slipping over.

It should be mandatory to have common sense in bad weather though.

Dress suitably...including footwear.
Clear snow off your car completely.
Don't drive like an Audi driver (cunt)

Schools are shut because teachers fancy the day off, they never shut when I was a kid.
 

Gwadien

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Nor would we apply it properly, we'd probably make a new government department for it, Department of Snow Offences or something.
 

CorNokZ

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We have a law like that in Denmark as well. The path outside your residence/house/building must be cleared within 24h of snow fall(I think it is)

If someone falls and breaks and arm or a leg on the path outside your house they can sue you. Not only for the injury itself but also lost work etc. so it can be a rather pricy affair if you don't clear the snow. Most people just spray salt on the pavement to thaw the snow and scrape the snow out to the side of the road
 

Raven

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That sounds tremendously shit.

If they expect you to clear them then you should be able to use them as an overflow for your garden. Deckchairs and shit.
 

rynnor

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No, we don't.

We pay council tax,

I'll stop you there - your council tax barely covers the mandatory stuff they have to do and in the future wont - theres none leftover for this sort of thing but the community as a whole could do it with no cost?
 

Raven

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Then they should raise council tax, or use it more efficiently. Or get the jobless to clear the roads, or prisoners, or even interrupt a bit of spade leaning and get council engineers to do it..

Not overly bothered really, so long as I don't have to do it.

What happens with the elderly, or the disabled? Or the empty houses? Flats? (would they share the labour by committee?) Would we have the dangerous situation of patches of road with snow on and patches of clear roads clear? Who would enforce it? Surely the money spent enforcing it could be better spent just getting on with it and clearing the roads with gritters?

We have snow for maybe a week every year, would be an utter waste of time.
 

Himse

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Clearing the bins once a week?

Seems like they barely clean out the drains, fill in the pot holes, organise repair work properly, clean up parks etc etc.. They mow the football pitches around here, but that's only because the football teams pay for them.
 

CorNokZ

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That sounds tremendously shit.

If they expect you to clear them then you should be able to use them as an overflow for your garden. Deckchairs and shit.
Hah, we have shared back yards for that. No need to sit in the streets, lol. And as you said earlier, it is just common sense really. Most apartment buildings have a supervisor who takes care of it. If you live in your own house you just do it when you come home from work. It takes less than ten minutes to do and you don't come off like a selfish twat who expects someone else to do everything for you.

Besides that, most people who live in houses have children and they are paid pocket money for mowing the lawn during summer time and clearing snow during winter. Simple really
 

rynnor

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and you don't come off like a selfish twat who expects someone else to do everything for you.

Exactly! Sadly in the UK we seem to be becoming increasingly selfish :(
 

Chilly

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of course not. for the 5 days a year it matters? What a fucking stupid idea. It's the very epitome of current legislative wank. OMG something affects 0.000001% of us 0.00001% of the time? Spend billions drafting bullshit legislation for it!

If we were Finland, then quite possibly. But not here.
 

old.Tohtori

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Yeah you should. Jail anyone who doesn't clear their path and send their wives abroad to be molested by midget badgers. Easy to say as i don't live there :love:
 

rynnor

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of course not. for the 5 days a year it matters?

We have snow on the ground here in North Herts for a minimum 2 weeks a year and up to 6 weeks in a bad year - in just this latest snow we have had a covering for 9 days now and it will last at least until the weekend - the kids school has been closed on 3 of those days.

This isnt a tiny problem and its not going away realistically.
 

Raven

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you don't come off like a selfish twat who expects someone else to do everything for you.

It isn't anything to do with being selfish, I and many people I know are quite capable of dealing with a couple of inches of snow a year without dying.
 

Raven

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the kids school has been closed on 3 of those days.

This isnt a tiny problem and its not going away realistically.

Why has it been closed?

It is a tiny problem and it was never here to begin with so it wont have the opportunity to go away.
 

Wazzerphuk

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Shall we all start working on bank holidays as well, seeing as they cost the economy even more?
 

DaGaffer

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The cynic in me sees this as another way of "taxing" the public either through fines or increased council tax ("we'll do it for you for an extra 20 quid on your bill) or through getting state hands on management fees for flats etc. (how else would flats get cleared?), under the always-profitable guise of health and safety.

I'm surprised such a scheme works in Germany tbh; it just seems to have a million potential pitfalls. Interestingly, while it does work, it seems to rely on German angst and massive public liability insurance. Do we really want to give the insurance industry more money?
 

Raven

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Snow didn't cost the economy anything. Lazy people did.

We had around 8-10 inches in 3 days, 1 person in my company didn't turn up for 1 day and the rest of us left at 2ish on Friday.

Just because people see snow as a decent excuse to stay in bed doesn't mean that snow is the problem, people's attitudes are.

As for community spirit. I know every one of the people on my street and most of the other people in the village. I don't need to shovel snow to meet the neighbours.
 

Tom

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I'm sick of it. Anyone who gets caught out by snow or ice is a complete fucking retard.

It snows pretty much every year in this country, and we know exactly when it's going to snow - in winter. If you depend on a car to get to work, then buy some fucking winter tyres that enable you to drive safely on compacted snow and ice. If you live in a hilly area, buy some fucking snow chains for £20 from Lidl and stick them in the boot. Put neat screenwash in your reservoir and stop driving around as though you're in a Royal Mail Postbox. And make sure your car's battery isn't 30 fucking years old!

I would change the law so that people who get stuck in the road because their cheapo Chinese tyres don't work, blocking it for everyone else, get their car towed away and suffer a huge fine. I would also make it easier for employers to get rid of people who don't take the above precautions and phone in with the "can't get my car off the drive" excuse. Get some bloody stout shoes on, a coat, and fucking walk.

And pensioners, I'm looking at you too. You've been around for seven decades and you still get caught out by snow and ice. Stop fucking moaning that the pavements are slippery, you can buy stretchy rubber things that go over your shoes and let you walk across an ice rink ffs.

Bloody hell, I fell off my bike the other day. Did I complain about the ungritted roads? No, I laughed my arse off, walked to where the roads were clear, and carried on.

Oh and schools staying shut because some areas of the playground are slippery? Rocksalt - B&Q - a few quid a bag. Fucking get some, pricks, or let the kids slide around and be happy, which is what we did when I was in primary school.
 

DaGaffer

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I'm sick of it. Anyone who gets caught out by snow or ice is a complete fucking retard.

It snows pretty much every year in this country, and we know exactly when it's going to snow - in winter. If you depend on a car to get to work, then buy some fucking winter tyres that enable you to drive safely on compacted snow and ice. If you live in a hilly area, buy some fucking snow chains for £20 from Lidl and stick them in the boot. Put neat screenwash in your reservoir and stop driving around as though you're in a Royal Mail Postbox. And make sure your car's battery isn't 30 fucking years old!

I would change the law so that people who get stuck in the road because their cheapo Chinese tyres don't work, blocking it for everyone else, get their car towed away and suffer a huge fine. I would also make it easier for employers to get rid of people who don't take the above precautions and phone in with the "can't get my car off the drive" excuse. Get some bloody stout shoes on, a coat, and fucking walk.

And pensioners, I'm looking at you too. You've been around for seven decades and you still get caught out by snow and ice. Stop fucking moaning that the pavements are slippery, you can buy stretchy rubber things that go over your shoes and let you walk across an ice rink ffs.

Bloody hell, I fell off my bike the other day. Did I complain about the ungritted roads? No, I laughed my arse off, walked to where the roads were clear, and carried on.

You really need to get laid.
 

Wazzerphuk

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I'm sick of it. Anyone who gets caught out by snow or ice is a complete fucking retard.

While I agree with the rest of your post, this statement is a bit stupid.

Disabled people are complete fucking retards?

Injured people are complete fucking retards?

People who have to use overground/underground services to get to work are complete fucking retards?

There's lots of situations when one can be caught out by snow that isn't their own fault.
 

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