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True grit
Reporter: Gillian Potts
Date online: 06 February 2013
A SNOW-bound pensioner with pneumonia has praised a knight in fleecy armour for saving her life.
Sandra Riley had to call an ambulance when she felt ill — but it couldn’t get down the steep road to her Haggate Crescent, Royton home in the deep snow.
Paramedics decided she had to go to hospital, but couldn’t get her to the ambulance — so called in Oldham Mountain Rescue Team.
Team volunteer Mike Porritt arrived in his snow-busting Land Rover and carefully carried the 69 year old into the 4x4 to drive her up the hill - to the waiting ambulance.
But her ordeal didn’t end there: the ambulance later got stuck in snow and had to be dug out by two of Sandra’s neighbours!
The incident happened during last month’s snow. After a four-day stay in hospital Sandra is now on the road to recovery.
But her anger over her home being cut off hasn’t thawed a bit.
“It’s disgusting the way no one comes to clear the road,” she said. “It’s the same every year; we’re all elderly and we’re stranded when it snows.
Sandra has nothing but praise for her rescuers: “It was traumatic,” said Sandra. I was struggling to breathe and my husband called the ambulance. When they couldn’t get down the hill I was scared.
“When they said they’d have to phone mountain rescue I couldn’t believe it! It’s good job he came otherwise I would have been dead. He and the paramedics were absolutely fantastic.
A chuffed Mike told us: “We hope Sandra is feeling better. It’s standard when the emergency services have difficulty they call us and we’re happy to help. It happens predominately in remote and wilderness areas, but sometimes we’re asked to help out like this. It’s nice they appreciate us.”
Councillor Dave Hibbert, cabinet member for housing, transport and Planning, said “Haggate Crescent is a cul-de-sac with a grit bin at the end of it — we are doing as much as we can with the resources available. Overnight on January 25 we received a significant amount of snow that would have required more than just grit to clear.”
To make a donation to OMRT visit www.omrt.org/support-us.
Comments
Well done to Mountain rescue and the ambulance service, but it's as if hers is the only street that doesn't get gritted, you can't get off our street when it snows either.
All that is needed is a couple of neighbours to dig out two tracks car wheel width apart and lay some grit. I and my neighbours do this every time there is a snow fall I know it can be very frightening to be in this ladies position. I am glad she has recovered you could also fit winter tyres to the ambulances you need to do some thing as the Council wont
Fair enough the council cant be expected to clear every road in the borough all the time, but surely if an ambulance needs assistance to get down a council owned street they should have sent someone to help it, the mountain rescue have enough to do in this type of weather and are a voluntary group the council get payed to clear roads.
I carry snow socks in my car, they are excellent and simple to fit. They cost around £50/pair. Maybe ambulances could be kitted out with them?
I am also quite sure a list of local volunteers with 4x4's could be put together quite easily for such instances and be contacted by the emergency services if required.
Well done to all involved especially the Omrt but to blame the council workers is unfair the gritters do a great job and when the snow is heavy are diverted to major routes as for the council foot fritter they do a splendid job it is just that there are more chief executives & personal that thee is foot soldiers top heavy council but the lads real workers cannot be faulted just not enough off them
Some are all too eager to condem the council, but no one has indicated whether the council were made aware of the lady's access/egress problems. I'm sure that had NWAS contacted the council's control room, support could and would have been provided in what were exceptional circumstances.
Sorry Orangepeel you are wrong, as are many people, the council has no such responsibility:
In Goodes v. East Sussex County Council, the House of Lords unanimously held that the duty of a highway authority under s.41(1) to maintain the highway did not require the authority to keep it free of ice.
The problem for Defendants (as Lord Denning had pointed out) was that if the highway authority were under a duty to remove snow and ice, they would be given an impossible task.
So, some of you seem to think that it's O.K. to expect the elderly (maybe infirm, maybe disabled) to go out in the freezing weather to clear the snow? HMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
Might that not better carried out by people on community payback?
it's a council road,council are responsible for what happens to it and on it,if Flake is right why should the council grit any roads at all? these people pay rates why should they be treated differently because of where the live?
ernie, as Lord Denning went to say, the council would need to employ an army of workers on 24 hour call out the moment the first flake fell, you should perhaps think about the implications of what you are asking for. Anything can be done providing borough residents are prepared to pay for it, but would you like to see a nought added to the end of your council tax bill on the off chance that someone on a cul de sac might need to get to hospital.
Grumpy where does it say in the article that everyone on that street is elderly infirm or disabled? We the generation which is being asked to fund the luxury lifestyle of the previous generation are now going to have to work until they are 70 before retirement. If we are expected to, then why can't they?
There are over 500 miles of road surface that the council grits. No matter how hard the staff work, and they work very hard, it is impossible to clear everywhere immediately. Although expected, the snowfall was sudden and severe causing problems all over the Borough. Priorities have to be identified and, unfortunately, no-one could have predicted Mrs. Riley's situation.
Not often I agree with Flake but a call by the ambulance service to the council emergency team would have facilitated council emergency response, even the deployment of fire service to extracate the casualty as part of the community winter support - The Council is part of the winter emergency planning and will support requests made by the other emergency teams
Flake, I wrote "MAYBE infirm MAYBE disabled" or didn't you notice that?
Yes Grumpy I noticed it, and my response takes account of that.
Have Your Say
In these days of austerity it is ridiculous to be so angry that a side road isn't gritted. There is a grit bin provided and the residents have obviously been too lazy to bother using it to grit the road. It doesn't take much to throw the odd trowel full from a bucket.
Alternatively perhaps the residents could hire a private contractor to grit their road, it isn't the councils responsibility.
By Flake @ 06/02/2013 13:22:43