Gritting row spreads anger

ROAD relief . . . a gritter in action on Castleton Road, Thornham

CLAIMS that some areas were not gritted during the borough’s white-out weekend have been blasted by the department under fire.

Councillor Mark Alcock said 10 gritters had spread 1,280 tonnes of salt across the borough, covering 6,670 miles over the weekend.

He categorically denied claims by his Labour counterpart Shoab Akhtar that residents in areas of central Oldham were let down by a “shambolic service”.

The council says sat-nav details outline when roads were treated and even how much grit was used as temperatures plummeted.

Drivers doing 12-hour shifts even battled against snowballs and missiles being thrown at them — with one gritter taken off the road for a couple of hours on Saturday when its windscreen was smashed.

Councillor Akhtar alleged Coppice and his own Werneth ward did not see a gritter as nearly four inches of snow fell over the weekend. Temperatures dropped to -8.7 degrees, the coldest since December 1995.

The deputy Labour leader added: “My phone has not stopped ringing all weekend with residents complaining about the slippery roads. Many residents have been injured and numerous accidents have occurred. The gritting has been shambolic — even the bus routes have not been done.”

Resident Zahoor Ellahi said: “Major roads such as Manchester Road were not even gritted. No further attempt was made to clear the snow for three days, allowing people to be stranded at home.”

But Councillor Alcock said: “I can refute that categorically. We gritted right across the borough. A lot of people have said what a wonderful job we are doing. The lads have been working their socks off since Thursday, it’s been 24/7.”

Gritters targeted the borough’s primary routes first, which includes A-roads, major bus routes, town centre roads and those serving emergency services. They then tackled secondary routes.

Councillor Alcock explained: “It has been really busy. When the snow came down we had to pull everything off the secondary routes to get the primary routes moving.

“By 6pm on Saturday they had got all the primary routes passable. They then left three gritters on the primary routes and the rest went on the secondary routes.”

But he explained that parked cars had caused problems.

“On Saturday evening, we also had a smaller gritter doing the roads around Coppice and Werneth that the larger gritters could not get down because of parked cars,” he said.

“Our job is to keep the roads clear. It is not our job to dig people’s cars out.”

For more information on the council’s gritting routes visit www.oldham.gov.uk/living/transport_streets/winter-maintenance .