Britain’s winter woes

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People in Britain are struggling with the harshest winter conditions in quite some time. With overnight temperatures as low as zero degrees Fahrenheit and days of snow fall, thousands of schools remain shut and travel problems continue, while power cuts are affecting thousands of homes. Laura Lynch reports. (Photo of Hawick, Scotland by Neil Dickson)

• BBC coverage
• User generated pictures from across the UK
• Audio slideshow: 24 hours of snow

NASA satellite photo of a snow-covered UK:

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JEB SHARP: Britain is gripped by another issue right now of a completely different sort.  It’s in the midst of an extended run of snow, ice and freezing temperatures.  And that’s not something the British take in stride.  Our own Laura Lynch has been watching as the nation struggles with the elements.

LAURA LYNCH: I could be kind of smug about all of this.

WEATHERMAN: Last night a very cold one, getting down to around minus 17, nearly minus 18 degrees and–

LYNCH: All, right, minus 18 Celsius, or about 1 degree Fahrenheit.  That’s cold.  But that’s in the countryside.  Here in London, the lows are only running to just below freezing.  Like I said, I could be smug, but my furnace broke down three days ago. So I’m watching the forecasts with more than a little interest.  And watching as this weird winter season evolves into a national crisis.

POLITICIAN 1:  Order.  Urgent question.  Mrs. Caroline Spellman.

LYNCH: There was an emergency debate in parliament today, a debate about road salt.  It took up more than half an hour of the nation’s business.

POLITICIAN 2: The highways agency has its fleet of 500 salt spreaders and snowplows out in force and has been successful in keeping the vast majority of the major road network running–

LYNCH: That’s 500 plows and salt trucks for the entire country’s highways.  But the bigger problem is that they’re dangerously close to running out of salt.  So much so, that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in the midst of yet another challenge to his leadership, made a point of telling voters he was on the road salt case.

PRIME MINISTER GORDON BROWN: I’ve actually talked to the salt manufacturers this morning.  We’ve got two big companies in Britain.  Salt Union is the biggest one.  They’re trying to produce as much extra salt as possible. We have imports coming from abroad. So, everything possible is being done to make sure that there is sufficient salt for gritting.

LYNCH: Britain leaves plastic bins of salt on sidewalks so people can take a bit when they need to sprinkle the driveway or the sidewalk.  Now, some desperate types are stealing the bins right off the street.  The UK is already importing extra salt supplies from the United States, but it’s also looking for some winter wisdom.

PETER FRANKLIN: Panic sweeps UK!  Panic sweeps UK!  What do you got, a light dusting there?

LYNCH: New York cabbie Peter Franklin offered some guidance today when asked by the BBC how to drive on ice-coated roads.

FRANKLIN: Don’t.  What you do is you go back– and I’m addressing this to all the nice  people in the UK– go back to your little thatched cottages and get under a nice warm quilt, have your spot of tea and stay there–

LYNCH: Good idea, for all those with lovely thatched cottages.  And heat.  I’m paying more attention to this guy who wrote to the BBC this afternoon.

NEWSREADER: There’s some more advice here from Josh Baker who’s posted on our Facebook page, BBC World Service News Hour.  He says, “Where I live in southern Colorado in the US, low temperatures reach about minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  So my advice to the British is get snow tires, heaters and some good knickers to keep the crown jewels warm.”  Which is very cheeky, Josh, but I totally agree and I think there’s an awful lot to be said for what we call long Johns.

LYNCH: The forecast is calling for more of this, maybe for another week.  So please, keep the advice, and the road salt, coming. For the World, I’m Laura Lynch, in London.

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