It's snowing!

[Mrs Pingu]

What if you work nightshift and you don't get home til after 0730?

[CarlF]

Whereas here, I believe (could be wrong, this was told to me many years ago...) that if you clear the nice grippy crunchy snow and it leaves a patch of frozen ice e.g. where the remnants of snow melted then refroze, you then become liable, whereas if you'd not touched it you're fine.
Would actually be vaguely interested to know if that's true.

No. It's bollocks.

[Adam]

When I lived near Luton, being on top of a hill we often got snow, and I always cleared about 100m of pavement, including the bit around the corner shop.  Once the sun came up, even the feeble rays would then melt away any remaining bits leaving it completely clear and free from ice.  I always assumed it was because the black tarmac absorbs the small amount of energy from the sun and turned it into just enough heat to be useful.

None of the neighbours on the other side of the road bothered doing any clearing, meaning their pavement was lethal with all the icy ridges caused by people walking in the snow, whilst everyone on my side was very appreciative of not slipping.

[quixoticgeek]

No snow here. Had a little bit of rain yesterday. Footpaths are a death trap of ice.

I'm glad I wore my spikes to get from the bus stop to the front door of the office.

J

[mrcharly-YHT]

No snow.

Temps of about -6 and light drizzle, though.

It is lethal out there. Absolutely bloody lethal.

[rafletcher]

Here in the Vale of Aylesbury it is, after early fog, a sparkling winters day. Temps slowly rising, probably be -1 or 2, as Chesham is up to -6 from a low of -12 overnight.

Our village road is still mostly sheet ice/packed snow though. I'm glad I'm off work Monday and can stay at home until it's all melted again after the predicted snow/sleet/rain on Sunday.

[Mr Larrington]

Don't know where my phone gets its data from but it thinks it’s still below freezing.

[The Family Cyclist]

Whereas here, I believe (could be wrong, this was told to me many years ago...) that if you clear the nice grippy crunchy snow and it leaves a patch of frozen ice e.g. where the remnants of snow melted then refroze, you then become liable, whereas if you'd not touched it you're fine.
Would actually be vaguely interested to know if that's true.

Government website gov.uk/clear-snow-road-cycleway says you are unlikely to be held responsible if you have cleared carefully

[T42]

Whereas here, I believe (could be wrong, this was told to me many years ago...) that if you clear the nice grippy crunchy snow and it leaves a patch of frozen ice e.g. where the remnants of snow melted then refroze, you then become liable, whereas if you'd not touched it you're fine.
Would actually be vaguely interested to know if that's true.

We salt our pavement after clearing.  It's still legal but every year we expect that'll change, and if it does I suppose we'll retain the liability without the means to do anything about it.

[Auntie Helen]

Cycled to work and discovered when I arrived it was minus 10 degrees. Was ok in the velomobile though.

It snowed whilst I was at work so the velomobile looks a bit whiter than normal.

Durano plus tyres are really slow in minus temperatures.

[MattH]

Whereas here, I believe (could be wrong, this was told to me many years ago...) that if you clear the nice grippy crunchy snow and it leaves a patch of frozen ice e.g. where the remnants of snow melted then refroze, you then become liable, whereas if you'd not touched it you're fine.
Would actually be vaguely interested to know if that's true.

Government website gov.uk/clear-snow-road-cycleway says you are unlikely to be held responsible if you have cleared carefully

So just "unlikely", rather than won't

FWIW I do clear around our house, and do the path to the door of the old chap across the street from us too, just never looked into the legality/liability.

[ian]

What if you work nightshift and you don't get home til after 0730?

You get your neighbour to do it.

In the US and Canada, in my experience, generally someone just does the entire path and/or parking, rather than just their own. Making a patch in front of your own place would be a bit cheeky.

[Little Jim]

Whereas here, I believe (could be wrong, this was told to me many years ago...) that if you clear the nice grippy crunchy snow and it leaves a patch of frozen ice e.g. where the remnants of snow melted then refroze, you then become liable, whereas if you'd not touched it you're fine.
Would actually be vaguely interested to know if that's true.

Government website gov.uk/clear-snow-road-cycleway says you are unlikely to be held responsible if you have cleared carefully

So just "unlikely", rather than won't

FWIW I do clear around our house, and do the path to the door of the old chap across the street from us too, just never looked into the legality/liability.

This is one of those urban myths that crops up whenever it snows.  You wont be sued if someone falls over on the path that you have cleared, even if it is a public access.  You might be if you have made the path a lot worse by, say, packing the snow down hard to make a sheet of ice, but if you have simply shovelled or brushed the snow off you will be fine.  Anyone walking on snow has a duty to keep themselves safe, not you.  It is perfectly reasonable to expect that a path covered in snow or ice might be slippery, so don't complain if it is and you fall over is the basic principle.

[Wowbagger]

It's only recently that the Southend Council has seen fit to remove snow and ice from cycle paths, and to keep them gritted. When I went for my first Covid jab, in Feb 2021, I walked over a mile to the Cliffs Pavilion, thinking I didn't trust the roads enough to cycle: there was quite a bit of lying snow. As it happened, the pavements were so bad I walked mostly on the road. I would definitely have been better off riding.

[Bledlow]

Whereas here, I believe (could be wrong, this was told to me many years ago...) that if you clear the nice grippy crunchy snow and it leaves a patch of frozen ice e.g. where the remnants of snow melted then refroze, you then become liable, whereas if you'd not touched it you're fine.
Would actually be vaguely interested to know if that's true.

Government website gov.uk/clear-snow-road-cycleway says you are unlikely to be held responsible if you have cleared carefully

So just "unlikely", rather than won't

FWIW I do clear around our house, and do the path to the door of the old chap across the street from us too, just never looked into the legality/liability.

This is one of those urban myths that crops up whenever it snows.  You wont be sued if someone falls over on the path that you have cleared, even if it is a public access.  You might be if you have made the path a lot worse by, say, packing the snow down hard to make a sheet of ice, but if you have simply shovelled or brushed the snow off you will be fine.  Anyone walking on snow has a duty to keep themselves safe, not you.  It is perfectly reasonable to expect that a path covered in snow or ice might be slippery, so don't complain if it is and you fall over is the basic principle.

I can't help wondering about sheets of ice left by people washing cars, or using hot water to melt frost off car windows.

[Slave To The Viking]

Whereas here, I believe (could be wrong, this was told to me many years ago...) that if you clear the nice grippy crunchy snow and it leaves a patch of frozen ice e.g. where the remnants of snow melted then refroze, you then become liable, whereas if you'd not touched it you're fine.
Would actually be vaguely interested to know if that's true.

Government website gov.uk/clear-snow-road-cycleway says you are unlikely to be held responsible if you have cleared carefully

So just "unlikely", rather than won't

FWIW I do clear around our house, and do the path to the door of the old chap across the street from us too, just never looked into the legality/liability.

This is one of those urban myths that crops up whenever it snows.  You wont be sued if someone falls over on the path that you have cleared, even if it is a public access.  You might be if you have made the path a lot worse by, say, packing the snow down hard to make a sheet of ice, but if you have simply shovelled or brushed the snow off you will be fine.  Anyone walking on snow has a duty to keep themselves safe, not you.  It is perfectly reasonable to expect that a path covered in snow or ice might be slippery, so don't complain if it is and you fall over is the basic principle.

I'm convinced I heard a radio phone-in years back, in which the landlord of the Snake Pass Inn (or somewhere near there) in Derbyshire said he no longer clears his car park, as he was sued by an old bloke with two false knees and two walking sticks, who slipped in the car park and blamed it on the slickness of the shovelled-snow-substrate, despite his own inherent instability.

I'm not said landlord. I can't easily find a record of the case. But my memory is of a first-hand story, not a "this bloke said" myth.

So, of course, I actually have nothing more than urban myth to offer, effectively, but I feel like there's a chance there may be something in this...

[Mrs Pingu]

The snow code
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/seasonal-advice/your-home/clearing-paths-and-driveways

[The Family Cyclist]

The various weather apps give different temps but saw one claiming -7 early this morning and could believe it. I've put a curtain over the front door and this had unintended consequences. It's kept the hall warmer but must have kept door colder as was a bit frozen this morning. Needed a firm tug to open it.

[perpetual dan]

What if you work nightshift and you don't get home til after 0730?

You get your neighbour to do it.

In the US and Canada, in my experience, generally someone just does the entire path and/or parking, rather than just their own. Making a patch in front of your own place would be a bit cheeky.

At a previous house, on top of a hill, we had a couple of very snowy (for Sussex) winters. Our little close connected to a well gritted bus route. So after a few days clearing it seemed desirable and plausibly useful. So a group of us went out with shovels. Except one house. The house that’d fly tip your skip. All that snow has to go somewhere, right?

[rafletcher]

Well the promised slightly less cold night didn’t materialise, was still around the -6 mark. But now we have a strengthening south-westerly and the very beginnings of a thaw.

[Kim]

Can confirm that the canal is now frozen enough to support  a) geese  and  b) traffic cones.  I suspect this will not be the case for much longer.

[Jaded]

There’s a BMW stuck in what remains of the snow outside our house.

Rear wheel drive really is useless in a tiny amount of ice.

[Pingu]

And it's a white (ish) christmas in FurryBootToon (it snowed for about 5 minutes).

[Flite]

Snow in the North Pennines overnight

[Basil]

As thread title.