South Lanarkshire road boss takes holiday during big freeze

Jan 14 2010

SOUTH Lanarkshire’s £80,000-a-year highways boss was this week under fire for taking an 18-day holiday during the Big Freeze.

Head of roads and transportation Jim Cannon was away from his desk from Christmas Eve until Tuesday of this week.

As he enjoyed a break in Tenerife, people across South Lanarkshire hit out at the gritting operation.

Pensioners were stuck in their own homes for several days because of the treacherous conditions.

Residents also contacted the Advertiser to complain that side roads and pavements had been left covered in ice and snow.

There were also fears that the authority would run out of salt.

Last week, as grit stocks dwindled, the council desperately tried to source fresh supplies of grit from Mediterranean countries.

On the eve of his holiday, Mr Cannon, a former president of Larkhall Rotary Club who is due to take early retirement from the council later this year, issued a statement to the press on the eve of his holiday.

In it, he warned the public that the cold spell was predicted to last for 10 days.

He said they would have to prioritise main routes to preserve grit stocks.

During the freeze, many council staff worked round-the-clock to keep South Lanarkshire moving and maintain vital services.

And Councillor Chris Thomson, who chairs the council committee in charge of roads, played a key role in helping to coordinate the effort.

One councillor, who asked not to be named, said senior officials like all staff were entitled to holidays.

He added, however: “Given the severity of the conditions and the unprecedented number of complaints concerning gritting, Jim should either have cut his holiday short or cancelled it all together.

“These guys get paid a lot of money for what they do.”

Sixty-one-year-old George Robertson, a resident of Montrose Crescent, Hamilton, complained to the Advertiser about his road.

He was “shocked” to learn that the council’s roads supremo was away during the crisis and added: “I have lived here since 1954 and the roads have never been this bad.

“I would have expected that the head of roads should have been around to deal with the many serious problems that arose.

“They make the excuse that these problems have occurred all over the country.

“I am not interested in that.

“I am interested in South Lanarkshire and I feel the people here have been let down and there should be inquiry to look at what went wrong.”

A council spokesman said employees’ annual leave arrangements were a private matter.

He added: “Since December 10, we have had employees from every council department working round the clock to deal with the consequences of the worst winter weather for almost 50 years.

“Crucially, the operation was overseen by the council’s winter task force.

“It comprises not only the senior operational staff from roads, but also representatives of every department.”

The council’s HGV-trained drivers operated 42 gritters, 58 snowploughs, one snow blower, 24 lorries, 10 tractors and seven loaders, and had 1400 miles of road to maintain.

He added: “We are proud that our dedicated workforce, thanks to their skill and determination operating in often atrocious conditions, ensured that none of South Lanarkshire’s main roads was closed for any extended period.

“The result has been that many of them barely saw their families over the festive period.

“We appreciate that there have been problems in gritting side streets but we are no different from almost every other local authority in the country in that respect.”

Councillor Thomson added he was “astonished” that a fellow councillor “should attack the very workers who sacrificed so much to keep the roads clear”.

He added: ““If this councillor, who is hiding behind the shameful mask of anonymity, was so critical of the efforts of council workers during this freezing weather, why didn’t they take the chance to find out what they were actually doing?”