This is a driver’s eye view of snow clearance and gritting – or lack of it – on the A62 Standedge Cutting between Kirklees and Oldham.
The ‘dashcam’ video was shot by Examiner reader Phillip Owens as he travelled from Marsden to Diggle.
The footage, taken on Sunday, shows how the road is still quite heavily covered in snow on the Kirklees side but becomes completely clear as the border between the two districts is crossed.
People in Marsden have complained about the lack of gritting over the tops.
And council officers in Kirklees have admitted they have slashed the amount of grit spread on the roads by half.
The Examiner reported how a 26-year-old Slaithwaite woman had a lucky escape on the same stretch early on Sunday after her Citroen Picasso skidded on snow, spun around almost 360 degrees and ended up hanging precariously over a 30ft banking.
The woman told of her terror after she unclipped her seatbelt and jumped from the driver’s seat into the snow.
Wearing a coat over her pyjamas she waited 25 minutes for help to arrive. She told her story as a warning to others.
Another driver David Barnwell, who came over the same stretch on Sunday morning, described on Facebook how the Oldham side was “brilliant” and he was really impressed.
“Our side, however, didn’t look like any treatment had taken place and I struggled with traction quite a bit,” he said.
Other residents were also fuming about the Oldham-Kirklees border crossing. Nick Lawton, of Marsden, also took a photograph on Saturday night and said: “Ungritted and not ploughed towards Marsden and like a newly laid road towards Oldham.”
Also on Facebook, Lisa McCluskey told how her car was skidding all over the place on the Marsden side but across the border the roads were “absolutely fine.”
She added: “This is the difference that treating the roads properly makes and Kirklees Council are literally playing with people’s lives by not adequately dealing with the snow and ice.
“Oldham have shown us it is possible to do, so Kirklees are clearly mismanaging the situation by comparison.
“God help whoever is in charge of the road clearing should anyone be hurt as a result. We need answers!”
Other residents pointed out that the balance had swung between Oldham and Kirklees.
Diane Ellis wrote on Facebook: “Up until the last few years Oldham were worse at gritting the A62 than Kirklees. So how come, in this time of austerity, they are doing a better job of it than Kirklees?”
A political row has blown up after Crosland Moor and Netherton Labour councillor Molly Walton, 80, branded the council’s critics who had written to the Examiner “d***heads”
There have been calls for Clr Walton, a councillor for 25 years, to apologise but the veteran politician is remaining tight-lipped and refused to comment when contacted by the Examiner.
“I have no further comment – and I don’t want you to say that,” she said.
It is understood she has responded privately to people who have contacted her directly.
