Council chiefs in snowy Oldham have hit back at criticism waged against their road gritting teams posted by residents on social media. The council's Facebook page gave regular updates as roads and schools were closed due to heavy snowfall and blizzard winds overnight.
Buses were also cancelled on a number of rural roads in the borough and on the M62 near Oldham, drivers were trapped for up to seven hours after snow drifts between a number of junctions. The council said all routes over the Pennines - the A640, A635, A62 - were shut by police after the 'significant snowfall' into Friday morning.
Bosses even revealed a number of stranded motorists who had attempted to get over the Pennines were helped in the early hours. One was taken back home to Delph and three others to a rest centre at the town hall where they were subsequently helped to plan their journeys back home and keep warm.
But despite teams of gritters working around the clock on prioritised routes as the majority of Oldham slept, some Facebook users were quick to criticise.
One Facebook user posted the comment 'excuses' under a post put up by the council warning of two closed roads and urging motorists to take care. "You can't excuse adverse weather conditions," replied the council.
"Gritting days before then none when expected," added the post. The council hit back, saying: "We've been gritting throughout this week and our team are working around the clock to keep our main roads safe. We have a job available in the team if you think you can do the job better yourself?"
Another poster said the council should be gritting 'main public routes such as bus routes'.
"Given the conditions, we have been doing our best just to keep the main roads open, as the whole borough would have come to a standstill," responded the council. That said, we will be working throughout the day to do our best on the rest of the network."
Another poster called for 'paying them via results only instead of typical unproductive council staff'. "No clear, equal no pay," they added.
The council responded: "Our gritters drivers are working in adverse weather conditions, in the early hours while many people are asleep, and are putting their own safety at risk by driving in dangerous conditions to treat many of our roads across Oldham, so we think they earn their money, don't you?
"Like we mentioned earlier, we cannot grit every road at the same time, otherwise that would be a hell of a lot of gritters."
On Twitter, as weather warnings remain in force on Friday night, the council wrote: "We're getting lots of people criticising our grit crews, who have been doing a great job out there in the toughest of conditions. Luckily we do currently have a job available in the team, and we'd welcome applications from those who'd like to join us."
There was also praise within the vitriol. One Facebook poster, predicting the reaction of some, said: "Cue the comments of 'we never see gritters from people who have their curtains shut from 7pm and stay in their nice warm beds overnight whilst the gritters are in a blizzard 2am in the morning."
"Well done to all the gritters overnight - you kept all the main roads open," added another.
The council, on its website, said resources are initially directed to gritting six priority routes, including the trans-Pennine roads and most of the principal, classified and major bus routes in the borough. The most used 'footways' are also prioritised, including around the Royal Oldham Hospital.
In the North West, across Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and South Lancashire, National Highways said gritters have travelled 10,134 miles since 10am on Thursday, with 194 separate journeys in the area including the M62, which was heavily impacted by snow.
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