Shovels at the ready!

[BloodEclipse]

Tuesday, Jan 12 2010 12PM 1°C 3PM 1°C 5-Day Forecast

Shovels at the ready! Residents defy 'crazy' health and safety advice to clear vital road ignored by council



By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:57 PM on 11th January 2010

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They had been told their local council couldn't help. So more than 100 snowed-in residents decided to take matters - or shovels - into their own hands.
Digging their way through three inches of ice and snow, they defied health and safety warnings to clear their street themselves.
The group of 120, ranging in age from three to 80, took just over an hour to clear 400 yards of Galt Road in Farlington, near Portsmouth, after the local council decided it was not a high priority.

Hard labour: The residents of Galt Road in Farlington near Portsmouth armed themselves with shovels and pick axes and hacked their way through around three inches of ice and snow
The clearing was organised by Wing Commander Paddy O'Kennedy, 45, who dismissed warnings from the authorities that residents could be sued if someone slipped on a public path they had cleared themselves.
'I mean, there's health and safety and there's just plain old commonsense,' he said.

'It's 100 times safer out there now because we went out and did it ourselves. If the council don't like what I did in organising this then they can sue me.'

On Saturday, Galt Road was thick with snow and ice and elderly residents were completely stranded

After: The 400 yard stretch of road was cleared in just over an hour, creating a safe route for residents
Wg Cdr O'Kennedy, who works with the Royal Marines, dropped flyers suggesting the clearing in his neighbours' letterboxes on Saturday. Scores turned out to help the next day.
Resident Trevor Jones said: 'At least two or three people had phoned the council and got nowhere so we thought we would do it ourselves - it was a bit of the old Dunkirk spirit.'
A spokesman for Portsmouth City Council praised the residents' community spirit but said main roads were the top priority for clearing.

Snow army: The big dig was organised by a Royal Marine who lives on the street. He printed flyers and dropped them through letterboxes

The clearing was organised by Wing Commander Paddy O'Kennedy, 45, who dismissed warnings from the authorities that residents could be sued if someone slipped on a public path they had cleared themselves.

Unfrickingbelievable.

 

[Indysioux]

Good sense of community!

 

[Ramen]

Woah, the government didn't/couldn't/wouldn't do anything so people got together and did it themselves? I don't believe it.

They should all be arrested for not having a permit.

 

[rambone]

Pretty cool story. I expect a class-action lawsuit against all those snow-vigilantes before long.

 

[BloodEclipse]

Pretty cool story. I expect a class-action lawsuit against all those snow-vigilantes before long.

By the Union Government workers who were screwed out of overtime.

 

[TheLoneRaider]

Now the council will expect this every time it snows.

 

[Clay]

according to the Brit in my office, most of the mid to southern part of England isnt prepared for the weather they have been getting. On average they have no need for snow removal equipment or preparing for it because typically they dont get much, if any snow, and when they do it doesnt last long. Now they have been hit by the worst winter weather they have seen in years from the north of Scotland, to the southern tip of England....... and they have no way to get rid of it.