Met Office on the hot seat. From the GWPF:
Liverpool Echo, 10 January 2011 by Ian Hernon
A LIVERPOOL MP is set to head a Parliamentary probe into this winter’s transport “fiasco.” Riverside’s Louise Ellman, as chairman of the Transport Select committee, has received official requests to launch a wide-ranging inquiry into why snowfalls up to the Christmas/New Year break crippled the rail and road system. If given the go-ahead it will focus on the coalition government’s alleged failure to respond to Met Office warnings of severe weather.
That led to weeks of turmoil with trains cancelled, motorways shut and thousands of travellers stranded in appalling weather.
Mrs Ellman has circulated complaints to committee members from all major parties and they will decide whether they merit a full-blown investigation.
She said: “The committee has not yet decided on an inquiry but it is certainly being considered.”
The demand for an inquiry was led by the all-party think tank, Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), which slammed the failures of both the Government and local authorities to prepare the transport system for the third severe winter in a row.
They said: “Lessons have to be learnt well in advance of the start of next winter so that we are much better prepared.”
The Met Office stated that it warned the Cabinet Office – in charge of emergency planning – in late October that the onset of winter would be “exceptionally cold.”
But their extreme weather warning was kept under wraps by ministers. The Cabinet Office has refused to reveal which, if any, local transport authorities, airports and utility companies were alerted.
GWPF director Benny Peiser said: “Not only is the lack of Government preparedness a cause for concern, but we wonder whether there may have been a reason – that ministers did not want to undermine preparations for the UN climate change conference in Cancun.” In a letter to Mrs Ellman, he said: “This year’s winter fiasco has severely damaged the British economy and our international reputation as a result of ill-preparedness.”
Ewan McCallum, chief metrologist at the Met Office, said an “amber” warning had been sent out as part of forward planning.
Liverpool Echo, 10 January 2011
See also: GWPF Letter to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee
The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 6 January 2011
London, 6 January: The Global Warming Policy Foundation has called on the House of Commons Transport Select Committee to set up a parliamentary inquiry into the winter advice the Government received by the Met Office and the renewed failure of both the Government and local authorities to prepare the UK transport system for the third severe winter in a row.
In a letter to the Chair of the Transport Committee, Louise Ellman, MP, the GWPF stresses that “Lessons have to be learned well in advance of the start of next year’s winter so that we are much better prepared if it is severe again.”
Full letter to Louise Ellman, MP
Tyres
The classic merry go round, Was it the Met or the Cabinet or both or Mrs Snodgrass
For perspective, they thru neglect killed 10X as many as died in the 9/11 attack.
There needs to be some hangin’ done.
If companies want a place to invest where at least the governments are reasonably prepared for a `bad winter’, then (re)locate to Canada. At least we have the ability to quickly produce more salt and road sand as required. A bad storm means you wait 2 hours for the roads to be plowed and salted before you head out…… oh the pain.
An the airport might shut down for a couple of hours…gasp.
I wonder if the US Southeast has similar ideas about being properly advised and prepared?
“Lars says:
January 10, 2011 at 2:16 pm”
Studded tyres are illegal on public roads in the UK, so snow tyres and/or snowchains are the only alternative. Snow tyres don’t have to be top-end, expensive, types, they can be re-treads fitted with/without snowchains, or just use the chains instead. The good thing about chains is that they can be fitted/removed as and when required. This solution worked in the cold, snowy and icy winters of the 1970’s.
I have a feeling this will, as typical with anything like this in the uk, go nowhere. There will be an inquiry and then the obligatory whitewash. You bet ya the Govn’t was informed by the Met of a cold winter. You bet ya the Govn’t withheld that information from the public, and probbaly local authorities/service providers too, going into Cancun.
Something for the Northern hemisphere, including Hong Kong where I currently live, darn cold here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZewPwBGHO8&fs=1&hl=en_US]
I am not a citizen of the UK, but 2 things lead me to believe this latest is nothing more than a whitewash. The first is the original East Anglia Whitewash after the release of the emails. We saw how “investigative” those committees were (on par with our own government investigating itself – in other words useless).
The second thing is in the details itself. Someone screwed up, and all bureaucrats are going to be in major CYA mode to make sure their head does not roll. So no one will be looking for the answer, just deflecting responsibility. In the end, the criminal will be some impotent serf that was in the wrong queue at the wrong time. And nothing will change. Next year they will be “surprised” again by the winter.
Well of course the Met Office has to keep their forecast secret and only let it be known to the ‘Top Brass’ , obviously if Jerry found out our plans for invading occupied Europe they would have their tanks waiting on the beaches .. oops sorry wrong century !!