Why Haven’t Hammersmith And Fulham’s Streets And Footpaths Been Gritted?

Late yesterday morning, one of my colleagues was driving back to Hammersmith from Uxbridge. He noticed that just as he crossed the borough boundary from Ealing into Hammersmith and Fulham the roads and pavements were packed with un-cleared snow and ice.

It seems that there were problems with H&F Conservatives’ newly privatised service. Firstly, as the Evening Standard points out “Hammersmith and Fulham Council only operates two gritting machines and no snow ploughs”. However, neither of these machines seemed to be working yesterday. This raises questions about whether the machines were fully functional or whether the deal H&F Conservatives struck has contractual limitations such as night time working only? I will find out and report back.