Snow & Ice Management
Duncan Thomas Landscape Gardening can help you keep your business open all year round. To ensure your site is safe and accessible during the winter months, we offer guaranteed snow and ice clearing services. All our services are tailored to your specific needs, from industrial estates to private properties.
For further details please give us a call or click here to use the online form.
Snow & Ice: The Law
Your local council is responsible for clearing snow and ice from the public highway and pavements. Under section 41 (1a) of the Highways Act 1980, the council must ensure that safe passage along a public highway is not endangered by snow or ice. If the local authority fails to act you can apply to the magistrates court under the same legislation, for an order to unblock the highway within a reasonable period, although such orders are rare.
Private land owners are not obliged to clear snow or ice from the highway, even if the road or pavement passes over their land, indeed from a legal point of view it may be risky for private individuals to clear there areas, by sweeping snow from one part of the pavement you can create a danger in another area, and if someone is injured you will be liable for negligence or nuisance.
On your own land it is a different matter. You owe visitors a duty under the Occupier’s Liability Act, 1984, to take reasonable care to ensure that they are reasonably safe. This means that if you know someone (such as a postman) is going to walk up your garden path, and that you also know that the path is slippery, you must take reasonable steps to clear the path of snow, and grit it if necessary.