I have actually been trying to find a shop sellign snow shovels but no one stocks them

If you mean the big ones, I've usually found that garden centres is where you get them - and £5 bags of road salt. The smaller ones that come to pieces for storing in the boot are sometimes sold by Halfords.

I'm going to Fife this afternoon to pick up Mother-in-law - roads are black, but it is actually rippled ice I'm being told - and still -8C!!

Garden Centers, Farm Shops, Motoring Shops Halfords etc. DIY Stores and so on. Even if you can not find a plastic or neat folding shovel their are plenty of old fashioned steel shovels to be had. E-Bay??

A big vote for Winter tyres today. Driving around Co Durham I easily passed a sliding Tiguan going up a steep snow covered hill (snow on ice). It was a 59 plate so I am guessing was still on it’s new OE tyres. I was amazed how little trouble I had and that was in a simple Fiat. A big thumbs up for Winter tyres gain. I use Vredestein Snotrac 2s (just in case peeps can’t be bothered to read the full thread )

Chance for a direct comparison today. We have two Fabia's. One has good normal/summer tyres, the other has winter tyres. Steep snow and ice track. Normal tyres got about 15 metres before sliding off. Winter tyres drove up to the top without problem. Very impressive.

A big vote for Winter tyres today. Driving around Co Durham I easily passed a sliding Tiguan going up a steep snow covered hill (snow on ice). It was a 59 plate so I am guessing was still on it’s new OE tyres. I was amazed how little trouble I had and that was in a simple Fiat. A big thumbs up for Winter tyres gain. I use Vredestein Snotrac 2s (just in case peeps can’t be bothered to read the full thread )

Tiguan having trouble in snow/ice, that is strange as a friend at work was going to buy a VW softroader, then saw a video on TV with a VW softroader having a lot of trouble in snow/ice, last Saturday I got caught out in snow (it appeared but I had not expected it!) with my wife's 9N Polo 1.4SE with ESP, now in the past I have mocked this set up as I've found it a hinderance and switched it off, but after 6 winters of dismissing it, I found that it was okay when trying to get up a steep hill with corners and 4 inches of snow. My main problem was forgetting that it cycles the "braking" action to avoid over heating, so after getting going it would get stuck frequently again while the braking function was disabled. Also, I must confess to playing with the throttle and backing it off too much - if you do this when the ESP controller is regulating the throttle, then the wheels find grip, the throttle regulation gets switched back a bit - but you have meantime backed the throttle off a bit - which means the car stalls just when you don't need it to. Hint, hold your foot on the throttle at the normal position for that gear and that anticipated potential road speed and let ESP do its thing. It must have been the correct snow and the Michelin Exaltos that helped on this occasion. Sawing the steering wheel did help a bit too - at least it gave me some thing to do!

Edited 25 December, 200916 yr by rum4mo

Garden Centers, Farm Shops, Motoring Shops Halfords etc. DIY Stores and so on. Even if you can not find a plastic or neat folding shovel their are plenty of old fashioned steel shovels to be had. E-Bay??

tried all of the above "sorry sir, we don't stock those".

The neighbours and I were all out tonight trying to dig the road clear after the Octy, an Avensis and a Mondeo all got stuck on the same (very slight) slope. I was going fine til I saw the Avensis sliding back towards me and the Mondeo was coming up behind DOH!! :S

Looks like your going to have to purchase shovels off the net, E-Bay, etc. As their is a group of you, it might be considered that bulk buying of road salt might be worth while and buying as a group! The other thing could be to consider, is, some walk behind mowers have snow plow attachments and brushes. These are heavy duty multi attachment devices and will even plough your garden up with the right attachments! They are equipped with agricultural type tyres for excellent grip As a purchase for one person these mowers might be a little expensive unless you have further use for them but shared amongst a group it should not be too bad.

tried all of the above "sorry sir, we don't stock those".

The neighbours and I were all out tonight trying to dig the road clear after the Octy, an Avensis and a Mondeo all got stuck on the same (very slight) slope. I was going fine til I saw the Avensis sliding back towards me and the Mondeo was coming up behind DOH!! :S

Rule number one of snow clearing, get in quick before someone like me with four wheel drive runs over the snow and crushes it into ice - and that is difficult to get off the road. I think that you need to drive a few miles as soon as the snow allows, to some Mid Lothian garden centres - Klondyke at Morton Hall Edinburgh or Mayshade at Bonnyrigg - unless they have sold out over the past few days.

I'd say that Scottish members claiming that they can not find anywhere selling diy snow moving tools does not sound quite correct, we should be experts (in UK) in dealing with this stuff!

Worse than that a Gael should know how to survive down here in the bright lights!!

Edited 27 December, 200916 yr by rum4mo

Rule number one of snow clearing, get in quick before someone like me with four wheel drive runs over the snow and crushes it into ice - and that is difficult to get off the road. I think that you need to drive a few miles as soon as the snow allows, to some Mid Lothian garden centres - Klondyke at Morton Hall Edinburgh or Mayshade at Bonnyrigg - unless they have sold out over the past few days.

I'd say that Scottish members claiming that they can not find anywhere selling diy snow moving tools does not sound quite correct, we should be experts (in UK) in dealing with this stuff!

Worse than that a Gael should know how to survive down here in the bright lights!!

LOL Klondyke etc all deny stocking such things. And my family left left the Gaidhealtacht in the 1850s - probably the last time we had snow for this long

Edited 29 December, 200916 yr by domhnall