The snowfall that swept the UK in February succeeded in bringing the country to a standstill for several days. Amongst all the chaos of schools and airports closing and other transport networks grinding to a halt, councils across the country had to ration grit use on the roads and some even ran out causing further chaos effecting the day to day running of businesses and everyday life.
We’ve got to go back nearly 20 years to find weather that has caused so much disruption with experts predicting that the cold snap may have cost the British economy up to £1.2 billion after many employees were forced to miss work and shops saw a sharp decline in sales. The councils and Highways Agency gritted as many public roads as they could but as they don’t cover private land, it was left up to companies such as MITIE to grit the roads for its private customers around the country.
As one of the leading suppliers of gritting services to the business community, with more than 1,000 customers spanning the length and breadth of the UK, MITIE’s winter gritting team has had its busiest period ever. Despite the well-publicised shortage of grit, MITIE was one step ahead and had imported grit from overseas to ensure it was able to meet the demands of its customers.
Richard Hughes, MITIE’s landscaping general manager for winter maintenance said: “This has been a very busy winter for us - last year we carried out almost 20,000 grits across the country but already the figure this winter has topped the 40,000 mark. Salt usage has doubled too, jumping from 1,200 tonnes last winter to more than 2,700 tonnes this year.” MITIE continues to work closely with the Met Office to monitor the long-range weather forecast and it appears the worst of the bad winter weather is over but as we all know, this is the UK and the one thing you can rely upon is the unreliable weather.
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For further information contact:
David Revis, PR and Investor Relations Manager, MITIE Group PLC
T: 020 7407 0063 M: 07979 702465 E: david.revis@mitie.co.uk
Sarah Phillips, Marketing Communications Executive, MITIE Cleaning & Environmental Services
T: 0117 957 9422 M: 07827 979052 E: sarah.phillips@mitie.co.uk
What is MITIE?
We’re the strategic outsourcing and asset management company.
What does that mean in practice? Providing everything from strategic consultancy, to world-class delivery on the ground. From long-term infrastructure planning, to facilities management, property and engineering services. Our strategic input can add value at the highest level, while our practical management expertise can save customers money and maximise their returns.
At the same time, it’s not just what we do, but how we do it that makes us different. Our people are passionate about what they do, committed to working in partnership with their clients, and will always look for a fresh answer to a new challenge.
We work with our clients in three ways; some take full advantage of our whole range of expertise by buying the whole suite, others may only need one aspect of what we do:
Strategy and consultancy
+ Facilities and project management
+ Service delivery
In other words, we think, we manage, and we deliver.
The thinking phase is all about finding strategic answers to long-term challenges about assets and resources. Facilities and project management puts those plans in place, and our unrivalled range of services is one of the best in the business.
There’s a lot more to MITIE than you probably think. We’re a big company with big ambitions - a leading FTSE 250 support services business, with 49,000+ people, revenues in excess of £1.4bn, and a reputation for being the best.