Yesterday, as most of Britain frolicked in a winter wonderland, businesses were counting the cost of the heaviest snowfall for almost 20 years.
It’s estimated that “snow day” cost Britain in excess of £1bn and that figure could rise to £3bn as the cold front looks set to remain for the rest of the week.
Over one fifth of all British workers (at least those who aren’t striking) couldn’t make it to their desks as transport links across most of South East England were disrupted. Of those who clambered through the wilderness to make it to work, 80 per cent of them did so late. Britons yesterday essentially pulled a nationwide sicky.
How can this country be brought to its knees by the weather, even if this is highly unusual weather? At a time when unemployment is rising steadily and job security is waning, can people really afford to not make it in when they might be asked not to bother even if they could?
London’s transport network was paralysed by treacherous road – and, puzzlingly enough, underground – conditions. Never one to leave the public wanting for a sound-byte, Mayor Boris Johnson justified suspending all London bus routes with:
You run the risk of unleashing a 12-tonne bus on to heavily packed snow and turning it into a lethal weapon.
He also felt sufficiently philanthropic to waver the C charge for a day as a gesture to those brave souls who managed to drive to work. That won’t have been cheap.
The cost may be large to the economy in fiscal terms, but you can’t put a price on motivation. Yesterday thousands of office workers forgot the mundanity of form filling and spreadsheet making to indulge in that most simple of pleasures – throwing a snowball.
They’ll go back to work refreshed, uplifted and ready to plough ahead, regardless of a bit of bad weather. For one, white, serene and mischievous day, people all across the country forgot about the recession and worked out that some things in life are more important than work.
