UKC

Seriously.. BBC Look North this afternoon did a story about local salt bins (you know the ones at the side of the road for gritting icy roads and paths) seemed to have mysteriously been emptied over the past couple of days.... !

Can't imagine how that happened - doh!

They went on to suggest thieves might have been to blame (yes, really). Who knows, maybe some of those councils have been on the take because of their short supplies....


<bangs head against wall>

In reply to Frogger:

Wouldn't be surprised at thieves, though. Rock salt and grit is in short supply and I've seen a couple of places charging ridiculously high prices for a bag.

You're right though, the other explanation is that people got fed up waiting for the council to grit the road, and went and did it themselves, which is what's been happening around here.

In reply to Frogger:
Apparently a few of the bins have been nicked as well, if they are full they must weigh about 1/2 a ton so they'd be a bit time consuming to pinch.

In reply to Frogger:
A few years ago; after a night on the lash, a mate of ours woke to find his world had turned yellow!
He'd either climbed or been put into a salt bin and had spent the night there.

In reply to Martin76:


Call me stupid, but isn't that what grit bins are for?

In reply to Frogger:

Surely that is what the bins are for - to enable you to grit your road? There is one in our village (although it is always used up by the people on the steepest road). No-one ever comes round and grits the side roads for us.

It's amazing there is any grit left though as apparently a council gritter showed up at our work this morning and offered to plough and grit the car park for £70, but the managers hadn't started work yet and no-one had the cash so he left empty handed. It makes you wonder how many people take up the offer.

In reply to EeeByGum:


No, grit bins are for putting litter in, I thought everyone knew that.

In reply to Frogger:
Yes I saw about this story while reading the news on the red button, I like how it said "outsides" implying that people from outside the area were coming there and nicking it.

In reply to Frogger:

I have never seen any local grit bins around here, I seem to remember them in Sheffield where they were used as a kind of ersatz urinal.

In reply to EeeByGum:

Normally aimed mainly at pavements - they don't hold a huge amount!

In reply to Clarence:

Congratulations on the use of the word "ersatz".

Not used enough IMHO.

In reply to Frogger:

Where my parents live there was a conversation in the pub about people stealing the salt from the salt bins, complaints of 'that's terrible!', mostly because people were driving up, loading it into buckets in their car and driving off again.

In reply to Frogger: the one i pass every day at the end of my road is more often than not on its front with its contents spewing over the road, my bet is kids pushing it over as it is on a 30% downhill incline from the back to the front.

In reply to John Rushby:

Not used as a urinal enough?

In reply to Chris James:

Sounds like he was on the take, not your average council service.

In reply to shingsowa:

We did our best, these days they are only used when there is a queue at the war memorial...

In reply to John Rushby:

He only used it cos he couldnt find a substitute for it.
All the best
Rob

In reply to Jaffacake:

which I very nearly did myself... as there is only one grit bin I know of in our area, and I used the grit that I bought and paid for up on the communal area and public highway outside my house.

In reply to summo:

Indeed. Still it was 'our' grit he was offering to spread over the car park for a backhander!

In reply to Chris James: Exactly, do it as a favour if he had some left at the end of his run, not look to make cash out of it. I don't think any council is in a position to be wasting any at the moment.

In reply to EeeByGum:

That was my assumption as well

In reply to Jaffacake:

Could be perfectly innocent. My neighbour got shouted at by a couple of interfering busy-bodies for taking a wheelbarrow load from the bin round the corner while we were having an impromptu display of community spirit by trying to make our street and the entrance to the nearby old folks' home passable, and our own bin was empty. "hoy, that's for public use!" they shouted. Tw*ts - i bet they write an outraged letter to the local paper.