David Lock

My sister works for a council in the NW in the housing section. She is reasonably senior and one day during the floods she was the duty officer and had to turn out to tell flooded householders what was going on.

What she told me would fit very well into a "Wilt" scenario if you are familiar with Tom Sharpe's book and TV series.

The first call came in at 7.00 am. By mid-morning the council went out to get some sandbags but found that they had been stored on a river bank and could not be accessed

Later in the day a couple of trucks and workers turned up only to say that they were there to fix the manholes - by now mostly washed away

But by later that night they trumped it all by arriving with plenty of sand bags but, and can you believe this.....









They had forgotten their wellies so they went home

Unbelievable but true

dl

The Zohan

Love Tom Sharpe and this does sound like on of his. Now off to dig out Vintage Stuff

hodgy0_2

Thank god these people arn't running the country, ah hold on.

tony de wonderful

I can believe it completely. Nobody more useless than local government but they pay themselves massive salaries.

They have scrimped on de-silting and clearing ditches/drains for years as well, one reason for the floods.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Sandbags kept by river incase the river flood?....I'm sure there was some logic in storing them there


Agree on the lack of drain/gully cleaning, what happens when you don't clean up the autumn leaves out of the drains at least once a year? Alot more insurance claims...thats what!

tony de wonderful

The councils just save money with no thought to longer-terms consequences.

Classic case is those M4 fly-overs like the one now shut and also the Hammersmith one.

They were built with electric heating just below the surface to stop the icing in winter, but the council used grit to save money. Result is much faster corrosion of the steel lattice in the concrete, cracking and expansion of concrete, more water ingress and more corrosion, serious structural cracks.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

There are two primary schools near me, both have AWFUL problems with parents on the school run blocking roads, parking dangerously etc etc.

Three weeks ago, the council FINALLY got round to painting no waiting and no loading/unloading signs on all the streets nearby.

LAST week the council re-surfaced all the streets and obliterated all the newly painted lines.

You couldn't make it up.

speedking

The cracks are in steel beams, not reinforced concrete. Although your overall premise is correct, it is difficult to see how a different maintenance regime would prevent steel cracks.

David Lock

That's unusual and they'll be big sods.

I think thay are being optimistic if they plan to fix them by Thursday. Traffic around there must be even more of a nightmare

dl