Why does the UK panic when it snows?

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fiona

The UK does not panic - ONLY ENGLAND PANICS.

Parts of Scotland have had far heavier snow in the last week than that light dusting that England got. Did you hear about Scotland on the news? No? That's because the Scots can cope with snow and wintery conditions. And coping with snow is not news. The English, on the other hand, blame everything and everyone, but fail to acknowledge their own obvious failings. The events of the last few days have, deservedly, made the English the laughing stock of Europe.

spiderman

I haven't yet met anyone who has panicked. It is the newspapers trying to whip up a good story - and if they exaggerate it sells more copies.

Some people have been annoyed but most people seem to have accepted it quite phlegmatically or have been out and played in the snow.

Dizzybyname

Ignore the media, when they say the UK what they mean is England or, to be more specific, the South West and in particular London. Its not news unless its happening there. So please dont lump the rest of the UK in with the Southwest. Fiona is right, Scotland regulary gets amounts far in excess of what fell there, so normal and expected in parts, in winter, that its just mentioned as part and parcel of the news and weather reports, lordy, people in Aberdeen were digging their cars out back in October, you didnt see that in the 'nationwide' news, Its true enough - nothing exists for them beyond the Watford Gap.
I have to thank the news channels though, we havent laughed so much in ages. Mass hysteria or what?

Martin T

We don't cope well with the snow because it is a long time since we had so much of it. We coped better way back when we used to get heavy winters more often.

Red Trooper

First off i would like to put you right on the British bit. We in Scotland can handle all kinds of winter weather, we are used to it. Now i presume you mean the English right? They are not used to getting 6 inch's of snow, the first time in 18 years that they have had snow like this. Lets say for example, you suddenly get Tornado's in your country, could you handle it, would your country be prepared for it? No it would not, same apply to snow in England.

Now by the looks of things you have already made your mind up, but winter tyres in England would not be economic viable, the costs would out-way positives that these tyres would bring, since snow is not that common in England there would be no need for these tyres..

Frankie Jones

In countries where it snows a lot in winter they have strategies in place to deal with it, and they are used to it, such as a fleet of snow ploughs, winter tire treads and chain covers for tyres.

However in Britain we very rarely get snow, so not only would it be unnecessarily costly to buy snow ploughs and provide everyone with winter tyres, its also very difficult to predict the conditions.

Pooh Bear

Martin T is absolutely right - we did.
We havent had proper snow for years so all the strategies that used to be in place are no longer there.
Plus we now have our wonderful elf'n'safety - which means people can actually say 'not doing that - its snowy and I might get hurt'.
Hence we have had no mail deliveries this week, nor did they come and empty the bins - because it had snowed.
But we all got about on the roads!
Busses have been delayed, trains delayed - its so pathetic.
I tried to buy a loaf of bread the other day and had to go to four places to get one! My son went into Tesco's and he said it was like christmas, jam packed and people piling their trollies up high as if we were in for a siege!
I have to say its a facet that now irritates me about the UK.
I remember the winter of 1964 when we had proper proper snow a la Canada/Russia and yet the country still managed to run. Shops did ration things like bread, butter and milk to two per family - but there wasnt the panic buying mentality back then either.
And shock horror - but guess what? If it was too snowy we used to WALK to wherever we needed to get to! Fancy that eh?

Vicky S

Whats flat like East Anglia??? If you mean the Fens then say so! That is not East Anglia, that is Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. And as for panic again you have to get your facts right. Forget what you read in the papers and heard in the media. We had snow for two and a half days in Norfolk and it made NO DIFFERENCE to daily life. The roads were clear of snow and no transport was delayed. I personally made a 125 mile journey on the day the papers were saying Britain had come to a halt. As for snow tyres and snow chains why would we bother with such things when the days we'd have to use them would be few and far between.

ben h

can i just say it is the southeners who cannot cope with a bit of snow. Northeners just get on with it

I agree with you 100% Fiona - put those Sassenachs in their place!!!

Angel

The UK does not panic, ( it's the Southern English, also our national media is in London, Southern England, they only make all this fuss when it snows in London )

The UK is England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland altogether,

Most years it snows in Scotland, Northern England, Wales etc,

Does it? I have lived in England all my life, and never had any problems getting around.

A B road goes through the nearest village to where I live (1 and a half miles away) and it has NEVER been gritted.

Reg Tedious

I live in Germany. Germans watching the news from the UK just have a good laugh at how the UK reacts to a bit of snow. On the other hand to buy all the equipment needed to deal with the problem would be silly given that the last time this happened was 18 years ago. It is not an annual event like it is here. 18 years ago when it snowed in London I was working there. With no buses and no tube I walked the 5 miles into Soho from home and just got on with things. I spent the morning at work taking phone calls from people that couldn't make it in because of the weather, yet I had walked past their houses to get there!! A lot of the problem is having the wrong attitude.

Beatnick

UK does not panic when we get snow, which for This Green and Pleasant land is very rare. This is the first seriously big snow we've had in nearly 20 years.

What UK does is nothing much. Why spend millions of pounds/euros clearing up snow which will probably just melt in a few days?

Instead, most county councils here in UK have simply shut their schools - the kids are off out in the snow all day having lots of fun.

Look at it like this. Here in England an 8 year old kid is going to be 28 by the time we get the next big snow.

Typical snow here in London where I live is a light dusting which melts by lunch-time of the same day. This time it has remained on the ground to a depth of about 20cm where I live here in sunny Greenwich.

I spend four of my nine British Army years stationed in Germany next to the Dutch border not far from Roermond - so I have some memory of what winter was like in that region. Big snow.

The worst place to have snow is the city of Rome. I was there many winters ago and it snowed. Not much, about 5cms - the Romans came out and looked at it and spent the entire day going on about it. No one had any idea what to do. Well the kids knew exactly what to do, snow ball fights, build snowmen etc.

Yesterday my neighbour and me spent most of the day building the biggest snow sculpture you've ever seen. We're not sure what it is exactly, so we've just called "Abstract Thingy". It's about three metres tall and about five metres wide.

You can check out the weather in central London at the Trafalgar Square webcam below.

http://www.camvista.com/england/london/trafalgarsquare_streaming.php

If you ever plan a trip to London, make sure you arrive in early June, in time for the Queen's Birthday Parade - which you can see for free - just stand anywhere in the Mall.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nxAr1x2ZZjo

You can also see the above event live on the BBC via their Internet broadcast link.

greenorlagh

The UK doesn't panic. It's only in England...north Wales, north Ireland and Scotland has had lots of snow this winter but as soon as there' s a snowfall in England it's chaos.

*Verianna*

Sadly today, Pooh Bear, some people are NOT within walking distance that means they'd probably collapse from exhaustion before they even got there.

Barbara Doll to you

health and safety laws have taken over from common sense and responsibility.

RayRay- Emily

the UK is not used to having snow, it never snows, maybe some frost but that's all and the UK is not used to it and they was not prepared for this as in other countries where they would usually expect snow they have strategies and targets to resolve this

Cinnamon

The Brits can't resist a good whinge.

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