UK Siberian freeze - will we cope?
We are in for a very nasty bout of weather.
Temperatures tonight are set to plummet to a frosty –15C, colder than the North Pole, with up to eight inches of snow forecast for tomorrow and Friday.
It’s going to be cold, wet, slushy and miserable but I could tolerate it, if I wasn’t acutely aware that to add to the misery the entire country is going to grind to a halt.
Despite arriving each year with pin-point predictability, the snow will cause trains to pack up, airports to close and buses to stop running
In a few hours it will once again become clear we simply can’t cope with the weather.
It’s not just the transport networks that grind to a shivering standstill at the first sign of snow, my experience this week proved that.
As thermometers plunged to –10C in East London on Monday night, right on cue the boiler spluttered to a halt.
British Gas insisted on only coming out if it was a medical emergency.
The prospect of spending the night with no heating in the depth of a Siberian winter? – nope, not an emergency.
The next call was to the firm which fitted the boiler.
They agreed to come, but when the engineer arrived he, and sigh here we go, didn’t carry the vital part needed to get the boiler working.
£130 (or thereabouts) callout fee later, through chattering teeth we agreed he would come back the next day to fix the problem.
Before the visit the firm insisted a quote had to be agreed, this was sent on a attachment via email.
This couldn’t be done due to work commitments - yes we work between the hours of 8am and 6pm
Eventually, and after two nights huddled in front of the the oven with the doors open, it was fixed.
My point is this, someone was happy to leave a “valued” customer for two days in a -15C Siberian winter with no heating or hot water.
It amazes me how companies treat their customers - and there are many offenders.
When you are desperate and on the phone to a call centre pleading for help, it seems there is absolutely no moral or common sense call the person can make to override ludicrous protocol.
“It’s -15C , you know, forget the procedure, we’ll get someone straight out, don’t worry.”
Not on your Nelly, more like:
“I’m just going to put you on hold. We can get someone out tomorrow between 8am and 6pm.
“No, we don’t come out at weekends.
“What was that? you can’t sit in for 10 hours doing nothing waiting for our engineer.
“How about Thursday week?”
It's like dealing with Basil Fawlty.
What is it with these ridiculous time slots? 8am to 6pm - you’re joking right?
Actually it's ok, I can’t think of any better way to use up my annual leave allowance than waiting in for engineers.
Though what puzzles me is you managed to pare that gargantuan time chasm down to a precise 3pm when you wanted to sell me the damn thing.
Different story when it breaks down.
Well I’ve had enough. Disgruntled Britons on the receiving end of consumer abuse I call us to unite.
Let’s stand together and stop putting up with it. I intend to log all incidents of shoddy treatment, and I need your help.
(Please post experiences below, tweet me, or email nathan.rao@express.co.uk)
Back to the big chill and this Arctic blast is going to bring something I had never heard of before - “freezing rain”.
Apparently it is the stuff of disaster movies; super-cold rain freezing instantly on contact with roads, electric wires and vehicles forming lethal sheets of ice.
It then briefly passes through cold air again, causing the water droplets to become “supercooled” – colder than 0 °C but still in liquid form.
When these droplets land on ground which is close to or below freezing, they freeze on impact – and the results are catastrophic.
Roads turn into ice rinks and planes are instantly grounded.
Sounds terrifying, thanks to the Met Office for the prediction and the explanation.
So with that stark warning in mind there’s nothing for it but to wrap up warm, turn up the heater, and wait for spring.
Enjoy!
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I simply do not believe that it was -15 degrees C in East London this weekend, or indeed at any time during the present unexceptional spell of cold weather. It has been unpleasantly cold, most would agree, but not that cold and temperatues are well within expected ranges for February
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