City gritters were out in force today following another day of snowfall in London, but some pedestrians have said they have failed to act quickly enough after one City worker slipped and fractured his ankle on Cheapside.
Davide Boiardi expressed his anger with the City of London Corporation over its failure to move quickly enough on making the streets safe, posting on Facebook: “I severely fractured my ankle today because the pavements hadn’t been gritted.
“The most powerful financial centre in the world, and its streets almost killed me today. What a disgrace.”
The Corporation’s maintenance crews began gritting high priority spots in the Square Mile from 4.30am on Wednesday after heavy snowfall overnight caused slippery conditions for pedestrians and motorists.
Winter Update Pt 1: Last night 18 tonnes of salt used. Stages 1, 2 &3 were completed by 430 am. Today: Stage 1 completed 930 am. Stage 2 started 6 am completed 10 am. Stage 3 started 630 am completed 11 am.
— Squarehighways (@Squarehighways) February 28, 2018
A spokesperson for the Corporation said the authority had more than 150 staff “working day and night” to combat the freezing conditions.
“Since Sunday we’ve used over 130 tonnes of grit across the City and carry out regular clearance of roads and pavements daily,” the spokesperson said.
“Our priority is to ensure that the City is safe for all who live and work here.”
Snow Update: Stage 5 completed at 330pm. We continued to grit the Priority 1&2 roads (Stages 1&3) all day and will keep doing overnight. Priority 1&2 pavements will all be retreated overnight. More information at https://t.co/WtBc5kaKsB
— Squarehighways (@Squarehighways) February 28, 2018
However it wasn’t enough to make the streets safe according to Mr. Boiardi, who said main pedestrian routes were still very dangerous to use.
He continued: “Wake up. More banks per square mile than anywhere on Earth and you can’t afford to grit the pavements. I don’t call that leading the world.”
Pedestrians and drivers across London have spoken of their fury at a lack of grit on the roads, with cars said to be ‘skating’ around unsalted streets and those on foot struggling to navigate the treacherous pavements.
Any chance of @LDN_gov getting the road gritters out in the London Boroughs preferably before the snow melts#londonsnow
— Julie Williams (@ecJulie) March 1, 2018
The Met Office is forecasting snow and ice again on Friday and ice on Saturday.
Friday and Saturday are labelled with a yellow warning meaning that the weather “will lead to icy stretches forming on untreated surfaces”.
Visit www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/winter for information on winter maintenance in the Square Mile and follow @SquareHighways on Twitter for regular updates.
