Free listing weekend for Private Sellers 1st-2nd Oct

It looks as if this weekend is going to be busy for Private Sellers. The First of the Month means that they have another 100 99p free listings plus the 100 over £1 items as well.

I am a little concerned about the point about the “one of the hottest weekends of the year”. Plymouth City Council have announced that their Gritting Lorries are on standby from Sunday in case of snow and ice. Now I know that I have argued for months that we are going to have a bad winter worse than winter 2010/11 but not as bad as winter 2012/13 but even I did not expect that snow and ice would start from Monday Morning.

As a matter of interest I wonder what being on standby means in regard to Gritting Lorries? I remember years ago visiting a Council yard and there were rows of the bodies of gritting lorries up on supports. I asked about them and it was explained that they drove the Council lorries(the lorries that for the rest of the year had been on other duties) in and removed their normal summer bodies(putting them up on supports). Then the lorry which now consisted of the cab and chassis under the gritting lorry bodies and affixed them to the chassis. I was not there when this was done but I would imagine that it must take perhaps a hour for each lorry to be so converted.

So I find myself wondering if that is what is meant by Gritting Lorries being on “standby”. I hope it does not mean that there will be a driver standing by each awaiting the call to go out to grit the roads(no doubt being paid at inflated overtime rates) if the hot weather of this weekend does last for days or even weeks.

As Plymouth is in the far South(not quite as far South as Cornwall but still down South). It would be interesting to know if the Councils in Scotland or the North of England have their Gritting Lorries on “Standby” already(perhaps northumbrian might know)

One Response

Chris says:

30 September 2011 at 1:22 pm

It looks as if this weekend is going to be busy for Private Sellers. The First of the Month means that they have another 100 99p free listings plus the 100 over £1 items as well.

I am a little concerned about the point about the “one of the hottest weekends of the year”. Plymouth City Council have announced that their Gritting Lorries are on standby from Sunday in case of snow and ice. Now I know that I have argued for months that we are going to have a bad winter worse than winter 2010/11 but not as bad as winter 2012/13 but even I did not expect that snow and ice would start from Monday Morning.

As a matter of interest I wonder what being on standby means in regard to Gritting Lorries? I remember years ago visiting a Council yard and there were rows of the bodies of gritting lorries up on supports. I asked about them and it was explained that they drove the Council lorries(the lorries that for the rest of the year had been on other duties) in and removed their normal summer bodies(putting them up on supports). Then the lorry which now consisted of the cab and chassis under the gritting lorry bodies and affixed them to the chassis. I was not there when this was done but I would imagine that it must take perhaps a hour for each lorry to be so converted.

So I find myself wondering if that is what is meant by Gritting Lorries being on “standby”. I hope it does not mean that there will be a driver standing by each awaiting the call to go out to grit the roads(no doubt being paid at inflated overtime rates) if the hot weather of this weekend does last for days or even weeks.

As Plymouth is in the far South(not quite as far South as Cornwall but still down South). It would be interesting to know if the Councils in Scotland or the North of England have their Gritting Lorries on “Standby” already(perhaps northumbrian might know)