SHEFFIELD Council has been slammed for failing to grit busy city centre footpaths following heavy snow before one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Many streets still had not been treated as people made their way to work yesterday, despite council teams laying salt since 7am.
Pavements along Arundel Gate, Leopold Street and Pond Street remained treacherous.
And some on High Street – a busy p
edestrian link between the markets and Fargate – were not gritted until almost 11am, more than 12 hours after the last of the snow had fallen.
In contrast, footpaths outside Midland Station and Sheffield Interchange – the responsibility of South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and East Midlands Trains – were salted before most commuters started to arrive.
Sheffield Council's opposition Labour group leader Coun Jan Wilson said the pavement on Leopold Street, where she got off a bus, was like a "skating rink".
She said: "The only area I could see that had been gritted was around the wheel at the top of Fargate.
"Workmen should have been out at 6am not late morning – and they could have used street cleaners to lay grit, so it wouldn't have taken other staff away from clearing the roads."
Coun Wilson added: "It was very unpleasant getting about on one of the busiest shopping days before Christmas, and when many people still had to get to work."
Motorists complained about how major roads, which had supposedly been gritted, quickly became impassable during Sunday's snow.
People faced gridlock trying to drive from the city centre to western suburbs.
Surtaj Hack, aged 61, of Wensley Street, Firth Park, said: "I was driving home from Morrison's at Ecclesfield with my daughter along Barnsley Road and it took two hours.
"My car was skidding left and right, slipping all over the place. There didn't seem to have been any grit at all. I'm a sick lady with heart problems.
"We were both screaming - our lives were in danger. Thank God we got home - but I shouldn't have to rely on God when I pay my council tax."
John Charlton, director of the council's Street Force team said: "I was very concerned to hear about the complaints received regarding our gritting work. We had teams out around the clock over the weekend covering more than 1100km of roads and more than 2,500 tonnes of rocksalt has been used since Thursday to keep priority routes clear.
"We appreciate ice and snow can make it difficult for pedestrians and we do our best to grit main walking routes as soon as we can.
"We do grit the Gold Route from the station up Howard Street and at the same time we grit Fargate, Pinstone Street and The Moor. We then start branching out and treating other footways in the city centre and at the same time we divert other teams from everyday jobs to grit district shopping centres and other key areas such as hospitals if needed. This was the case yesterday.
"Our teams started treating footways outside the railway station at 5am yesterday and continued throughout the day and this will continue.
"On top of the footpaths work we completely re-salted the full highway network last night. We've also dealt with hundreds of individual requests for help since the snow fell including helping medical staff reach patients at home.
"We do ask people to bear with us and ensure they can do what they can to be prepared for travelling in such weather, if they have to. The community grit bins have been used a lot over the last few days and we will do our best to keep them topped up."
Forecasters said temperatures would struggle to get above freezing today and predicted wintry showers tomorrow afternoon.
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