THE other week, I suffered from another side-effect of the bad weather -- on February 3. No, I wasn't stuck in traffic for hours on end and, no, I didn't slip and injure myself due to the lack of gritting.

My problem is that, due to the state of roads, my dustbin could not be emptied. Apparently it is too much of a risk for the large refuse vehicles to be driven on icy roads.

I quite understand this, but maybe someone could explain to me why the roads were still in such a bad way on the Thursday, three days after the snowstorm?

And how was the bin wagon able to get to the bins on the opposite side of the terrace street I live on, but could not empty the ones placed at the end of the back alley that the wagon then drove past, if the roads were so treacherous?

SAMANTHA BENTHAM, Abraham Street, Blackburn.