TOWN HALL bosses have been slammed for blowing thousands on 'useless' DIY gritters.
Council chiefs at Oldham brought in 30 'mini gritters' at £200 each before the cold snap began.
They were distributed to volunteers in rural area in a bid to keep streets and pavements inaccessible to grit wagons.
But when the snow came, the contraptions – the brainchild of Saddleworth councillor Alan Roughley - were found wanting.
Many of the volunteers found that the grit would not fit through the holes in the devices and that the wheels locked on the snow.
One of those left fuming was retired squadron leader Rob Knotts.
The hardy pensioner was charged with looking after streets close to his home in Austerlands.
He sprang into action when the Arctic front swept in – but was soon back in his front room.
Mr Knotts explained: “The gritter was as useful as a chocolate fireguard.
Clogged up
“The machine clogged up and would not disperse the grit – the exit is too narrow.
“It has small wheels which just clogged in the snow.
“I rang the council for help to clear the area but ended up using a shovel and doing it myself.
“The gritter was basically a glorified seed dispenser and was totally unsuited to the snow conditions that we experience.”
Parish councillor Ken Hulme slated the council over the issue, branding the gritters 'Heath Robinson contraptions' after the cartoonist who dreamed up needlessly complex machines.
He said: “'The money would have been better spent of replacing some of the 300 grit bins the Lib Dems removed as a cost cutting measure when they were last in power in 2002.”
Coun Roughley said the gritters were 'the best option available' and hit back at claims they would have been more effective in back gardens.
He said: “The company we bought them from have a range of products, all named after mountain peaks 'Everest' and 'Mont Blanc' to name but two, which hardly suggests they are primarily designed for spreading fertiliser.
“They are not designed to cope with eight inches of snow or the recent extreme low temperatures, when no road grit is effective.”
Outcry over 'useless' gritters
January 26, 2010
1/1
Play Slideshow
Rob Knotts, was given a £300 gritter by Oldham council. The machine proved useless at spreading grit.
Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
tiggerluc, somewhere in shaw (26/01/2010 at 15:45)
Some one saw Oldham MBC coming then.
Can anyone else re-arrange these words.
Bank, the , all , way, laughing, to.
Brook Lands (26/01/2010 at 16:23)
Plus, even the very robust all metal versions would have problems in the amount of snow we had recently. All bets are off in those conditions.
Angie33 , Manchester (26/01/2010 at 16:24)
Mark,Radcliffe. (26/01/2010 at 16:29)
Rick D'alaglio (26/01/2010 at 16:32)
One Spit Doesn't Make A Summer (26/01/2010 at 17:09)
thoughtful, East of Manchester (26/01/2010 at 17:19)
His antics came a few days after another Labour loonie councillor fell over on the snow and injured his leg so badly that mountain rescue also needed to called out to rescue him. All this despite repeated warnings not to go out.
The whole borough of Oldham were promised access to these gritters, but Mr Hulme (who lives in Saddleworth) has made sure that every single one of them has stayed in Saddleworth and no one else has got a look in.
The fact that they don't actually work gives a delicious sense of schadenfreude, but little sense of surprise give Hulmes previous track record.
Oh and Brooklands these machines are supplied by a company close to where Mr Hulme live so even if yours is much cheaper and much better, there's no chance of them changing supplier!
Jay B, oldham (26/01/2010 at 17:30)
parties in brewerys come to mind on everthing that happens from them.
Just look at their recent history!
Failed kitchen fraud case!
poor gritting in the area! They've got massive stocks still left over!
allowed the closure of a perfectly good railway. cutting the town off by rail for 2 years. and when the mmetrolink actually comes it'll be smaller capacity than the trains and only slightly more frequent!
The worst road conditions in the whole of the northwest! we have more pot holes than tarmac here!
canonball, inside the helmet (26/01/2010 at 17:54)
J. Peasmold Gruntfuttock, Peasmouldia (26/01/2010 at 18:07)
d1v1s1onby0, Wigan (26/01/2010 at 18:09)
This has to be one of the Moronic statements I have read in a long time.
Thank God they dont have models called "Vangaurd" or he would be claiming we could use them as Submarines
Dave (26/01/2010 at 18:20)
1. You need some manual gritters. So you get on Google and ask them for a demonstration and if it works, you'll order 30. It's standard practice that if you're going to do a bulk purchase, especially for someone like a council, that someone would show off the product before purchasing them.
2. Someone comes round and shows you a few gritters.
3. You choose one that works.
Seems like they just went on Google, picked a product that had a decent sounding name and bought it. Wonder if they even asked them if they were OK for spreading grit before spending £6000 on them?
Redberry, Manchester (26/01/2010 at 18:44)
Coun Roughley said: “The company we bought them from have a range of products, all named after mountain peaks 'Everest' and 'Mont Blanc' to name but two, which hardly suggests they are primarily designed for spreading fertiliser.
What an absolutely stupid statement, of course the company who sells them will give its products fancy names its about selling to the gullible. When I bought my kids a space hopper I did not think my kids would end up in orbit!
Admit it council, you have been conned and get the money back via legal action if necessary, this will also give the public more confidence in the council and assure them that nothing irregular has taken place.
Hamish Macbeth, Whitefield (26/01/2010 at 21:14)
At least they can't be accused of not doing a "test purchase"
Stickman, Bury (26/01/2010 at 21:19)
salfordrat (26/01/2010 at 21:20)
And as for those pesky Lib Dems removing the salt bins in 2002 - that is odd, because I live in an Oldham postcode and the local council came around, a couple of weeks after realising that the snow and ice werent going to be taken away by little fairys, and removed all of the local salt bins. Presumably to head of questions like - why is there no salt in our salt bins when we have never needed it more!!! Idiots, liars, cowards, inepts, - can anybody else come up with any despcriptive words for the people who seem to make it into public office these days?
Casablanca, ex-Bury Road Convent, Rochdale (26/01/2010 at 22:46)
Well the streets were kept inaccessible to grit wagons, so the mini gritters achieved their purpose.
Mike, Manchester (26/01/2010 at 22:54)
It may be 34 yrs but it will never be 37yrs. (27/01/2010 at 01:42)
My car tyres say India on them but it doesn’t mean I’m going there, what a prattish statement to make. When the local elections come around show this comedian how fit for purpose he is.
Supreme Being, Manchester. (27/01/2010 at 07:57)
thoughtful, East of Manchester, you must be in Failsworth too.
3 days I was blocked in by snow. In the south of the borough where councillors very rarely acknowledge or visit. Neither a gritter nor binman to be seen.
Do we get a discount on council tax? No I didn't think so.
Audenshaw Bob (27/01/2010 at 08:08)
They fail miserably on the basics that a council should be about because they are spending too much time on finding ways of fining the public - cctv smart cars, using anto terror laws to spy on people who put their bins out too early.
Today we hear about a council who threatened to take a company to court because in a job advert the required 'reliable workers'. The council in question spent time and money fighting this because they said it was discriminatory to unreliabe people!
Focus on looking after the infrastructure, not on being left wing experimental think tanks.
Oh and what about the £217m spent of the congestion charge campaign that was riddled with inaccuracies (such as ther being no plan B yet we now have the investment!). Who got the chop for wasting the publics money?
Jay B, oldham (27/01/2010 at 08:59)
yet they fail to deliver even the most basic of services when we the tax payer expect them.
its time oldham council and others got their priorities right!
Black Flag (27/01/2010 at 09:03)
There's a very simple reason for that - it isn't their job.
Councils are responsible for local roads, but the Highways Agency is responsible for main A roads and motorways, so any failure to keep them clear is the responsibility of an agency of the national government, not local government.
Angie33 , Manchester (27/01/2010 at 09:28)
Jay B, oldham (27/01/2010 at 09:28)
grit works best when the road is clear of snow. the council should have advised residents that they needed to clear some snow first before applying the grit. but then this is the same council who cannot get their own gritting team to do that.
they sent out their gritters after it had snowed when they should have gritted way before it had fallen.
then when the snow had fell they sent the gritters out. without the ploughs on the front which are needed to clear excess snow first of all. so the grit couldnt do its job properly.
if they cannot get that right what chances did these mini gritters have?