"Graham P Davis" wrote in message
...

In the 50s and 60s, I don't recall pavements ever being salted and cleared
by councils. I found the salting of snow-covered pavements in sub-zero
temperatures in recent decades to be more of a hindrance than a help as it
made nice crunchy hard-packed snow into dangerously slippery icy slush.

The amount of salt used in the 50s was less than nowadays and meant roads
could stay ice-covered although they'd been gritted. In the 55-6 winter,
council workmen had to remove ice from roads using pickaxes.

--

In '63, it was well over a month before the local council got up to us. This
was mainly due to the number of cars that had been abandoned on the hill,
and had to be dug out by hand. When they finally did clear the road for
traffic, they came up fairly regularly and dumped piles of salt at strategic
points along the lane. It was up to us locals to spread it where it was
needed. including our own (steep) driveways. They were pretty good about it
once they got their act together.

jim, Northampton