So who was really snowed in and who skived off today?

Definately snowed in (also my school was shut) but tbh it was nice to have a day off.

I went to work at 5:30 this morning (45 minute commute) and the majority of people at my unit had got in (except my staff). We do work in Buckinghamshire and don't think we saw as much snow as some further south. Most of my team have a long commute, one didn't make it in and one I let go home at 11am as the snow was getting worse.

Our head office based in outer London was closed but they notified everyone by email and not a lot of people check their emails before they go to work (I certainly don't!).

I do however know of people wwho were stuck on the M25 for hours on end and a lot of planes were cancelled so I am sure that it was not all exaggeration.

Having nearly written my brand new car off on the way home I wont be going to work tomorrow if the weather is like it is now or worse.

Well I don't work today but there was no way I could have got in as the station was shut with nothing running (rural Kent) I did not take my boy to school today (and his was one of the only schools in the area that actually opened) because it is an 8 mile round trip down country roads. So technically the child skived, but I was unwilling to risk my (already on one more strike and you are out) no claims bonus on it!

I'm guessing getting in wasn't the major problem, it would be getting home that would cause chaos, especially if you have to pick up children/spouses etc.

Mr Hole got all the way into London from Essex, only to have to turn around and come home because he couldn't let his men work in that weather. He'll spend two hours struggling in again tomorrow, probably to turn around and come home because he has no choice.

It's not always down to people not being bothered, if I was still working in town I wouldn't be able to take the risk of being stuck there all evening, it's the same for many people, I suspect.

As an aside, when Mr Hole got to the bottom of our road today it took him another 30 minutes to get up it due to us being on a hill and the car being a rear wheel drive.

Snowed in for me!! Get 2 buses to work and they didn't run and I'm not walking for over two hours to get to the office, none in my company (7 of us) went in today. Not sure what I'll do in the morning!!

Definitely snowed in here - i did try, I arrived at the station at 645am, no trains AT ALL ....no hope of getting in to London!

I 'worked from home' but it was horrible and if this happens again tomorrow then I'm taking the day off.

I checked the train operator website first thing, and they said they'd reduced their service to one train per hour and that we were advised not to travel unless it was absolutely essential.

Since there was nothing on my plate for today that couldn't be done from home, I sent my boss an email at 6.15am to that effect and went back to bed.

And I'm so glad I did, because at about 8am I got a text urging me to turn back because tubes and buses were cancelled and the office probably wasn't opening!

I live in London but couldn't get in. No trains were running from my station. The tube running from my train station to my work was also shut. My next best alternative was a bus to a tube station. All buses were cancelled and my nearest tube stations has 3 lines, all of which were shut. I tried a cab - first one no answer, second one wasn't sending any cabs, third one wouldn't send a cab down my street or even down the nearest major road. Too far for me to be willing to walk to work (about 7 miles each way), particularly in the snow and ice. (Though in an emergency I would have of course. A Monday at work having exhausted multiple forms of transport didn't count as an emergency I'm afraid...)

But I was distinctly pleased to be working from home...I've booked a cab for tomorrow morning as we've been advised transport will be worse tomorrow. I'm hoping the cab turns up tomorrow morning, as I'm now bored at home by myself.

The snow was almost up to my knees this morning when I left at 7.15am. I was soaked after walking 5 mins. No buses running, so I headed back and made H (who was in bed as on a rest day!) drive me to the station. The car was snowed in, and he had to get the shovel out! We eventually weaved our way to the station to be told that all trains were cancelled-not just disrupted/delayed and it would be this way all day. As I live 2 hours from work, I headed home-and my boss who lives fairly close by, had to do the same. If its the same in the morning, I'll not be going in.

My H wanted to go in but couldn't because

a) there were no trains running at all (we're a 45 min commute from London)

b) if he had got there, there were no tubes and no buses

c) we couldn't even get out of our driveway!!

So no skiving here (and we're not rural at all, very much suburbia)

That's fair enough though - it wouldn't have been safe to work outside today, the snow kept coming all day in central London...but all the people I know work in offices so not a problem. If anything it was nicer being in work where it was warm and I could pop out for chocolate if need be ?

Getting home was actually really easy - I got home quicker than normal, although I have brought my laptop home just in case it gets worse overnight.

It just seemed most people took a bit of snow as a reason to stay home - I think what got me most was several of our contractors with big London offices, with the majority of their staff living in London, closed due to no staff - most of the tube lines were running! That and my friend who only has to go a couple of tube stops - it just made me laugh.

I left home at 7 am had to walk to the staition as no busses which took twice as long as the snow was so deep

I could have got to westham if I could have squeezed myself on the C2C the district line was stopping at plaistow,

but there were no buses or connecting trains to Hackney so there was just no way I could get in

I do feel bad as I work in a hospital and we are stretched enough as it is but there was just now way of getting there

I left home at 7 am had to walk to the staition as no buses which took twice as long as the snow was so deep

I could have got to westham if I could have squeezed myself on the C2C the district line was stopping at plaistow,

but there were no buses or connecting trains to Hackney so there was just no way I could get in

I do feel bad as I work in a hospital and we are stretched enough as it is but there was just now way of getting there

Well H worked from home rather than struggle into work - it just seemed more sense to utilise the time he would have spent trying to get into town!

No skiving here. I'm in SW London and

my local tube station had no tubes running even if I'd walked the mile to get there

no buses running to local train station. If I'd walked the 2 miles or so there was 1 train an hour.

if I'd got the train to London there were no tubes to my place of work.

I checked travel and by about 2pm the local tube line was working but it wasn't worth travelling for 2 hours (no doubt) to just turn round and come back again.

I feel very guilty but couldn't do anything about it. Dreading what it's going to be like tomorrow.

I went in, but we got sent home in case the roads worsened. I didn't complain too heartily.

I guess I'm lucky in that I can do what I need to do with a laptop and mobile / softphone so I didn't even bother leaving the house (and worked inmy pjs until about 11!). The roads looked clogged up outside and on previous occasions when it has snowed less it has taken ages to get in so I am more productive from my sofa.

My boss lives 2 minutes drive from work, it took him 15 and saw 2 cars spin. Said the office was v quiet, so he's cool.

Must admit that am a bit bored so want to go in tomorrow. I had the tv on in the background for noise and nothing decent on. I did go for a walk to the local garage for coffee & chocolate and got snowballed by some lads. Little monkeys!

I wasn't snowed in, I walked into work and there were only 2 of us that managed to get in out of a team of 9. the majority of these people have to drive into work which is fair enough. But one woman rang up at 11.30 to say that she wasn't coming in because she couldn't find any wellies to wear, she had walked all the way into town gone to Millets couldn't find any wellies to buy and then gone home, she would have nearly been at work if she'd not of gone home. Both me and my colleaugue managed to get into work without wearing wellies! It just made us get abit annoyed and we would never used such a crap excuse.

Mr Cee was snowed in he works about 40 mins away and all major roads were blocked so he got the day off. I am sure there are loads of people who coulod have come to work and didn't even try to attempt it.

There were a couple of people wrking from home today but the majority got in so I don't think anyone was convinced the others couldnt have. We've been told to work from home tomorrow if it's worse (was really bad getting home tonight) but I will probably go in as I can walk (only takes about 40 mins).

I think you're being a bit cynical tbh.

I live in zone 2 and still couldn't get in.

The were absolutely no buses.

No overground trains on our line.

Some central tubes but none from any of the stations I could have feasibly walked to.

And the roads are still snow and slush covered: there's been no gritting all day, so there's absolutely no way I would drive it.

It was up to my knees, I have photographic evidence! (you sound like you don't believe your colleague) There's been a foot already today and it's still coming down heavily.

I think it's sometimes easier if you're coming from outside London as you have proved, as they seem to make most of the effort to keep zone 1 and the City moving if at all possible.

Mrs Cee you’ve hit on the nail on the head - some of the excuses I've heard today have just been crap - some people clearly didn't even try and I'm positive in some of the cases they wouldn't have had any problems getting in. It makes me feel sorry for those who genuinely couldn't get in - I'm sure there are a lot of employers out there thinking "yeah right" - the train this morning was full of people moaning about their useless staff faking it.

The media hasn't helped - I've just been reading a couple of the online newspapers - tales of no tubes running this morning. It's really odd as when I got to Liverpool Street at 9am and checked the live update board only the Waterloo & City line was down, with part suspensions on the other lines - most of which were the very ends of the lines, with the exception of the Jubilee line which was pretty rubbish. Obviously it could have all improved just as I got there / got a lot worse just as I left but....

My Sister said her assistant got two thirds into her journey, had to wait 24 minutes for a tube so went home - thank God I'm not her boss, I wouldn't have paid her ?

I wrote out a reply then wondered why I was feeling like I needed to justify mysef to an internet weirdie and deleted.

Mr P couldn't get it as there were no trains or buses running. He worked from home instead so it wasn't a problem. The only one who could get to their office by walking is the one person they never want there alone so he was told to stay home too. Boss will be able to get into the office tomorrow to deal with drop ins and collections but he has said that the rest of them are to work from home again if the weather is still bad (of course if the trains are running Mr P will go in).

I agree with R-A you do sound a bit cynical..

I work in Herts during the week (Ware) and normally commute back there sunday nights from Sussex.. I tried last night and made it only as far as the M25 junction before turning round and going back home. The snow was so bad I could barely see out of my windscreen and I had already seen 2 big accidents where cars has slid across the road...

I was going to go back up this morning but looked out the window at the 5/6 inches of snow which was still falling and decided against it Glad I did as I kept an ear on the bbc news and they said the M25 was closed most of the morning as was the A22 (which I have to drive up to get to the M25) and parts of Herts which I would be going through

Im still in Sussex now and will decide whether to risk my life on the roads in the morning... Still at least I get another couple of nights with my husband

Oh and I dont get paid if I dont work so Im hardly skivving - and out of the 12 people in my office only 2 made it in

I think you're being a bit harsh to be honest. As a disclaimer, I am in the North West of the country and we have had hardly any snow today but journeys have been taking longer and my son's nursery took mobile numbers just in case they had to close, so I don't really have an idea of how bad the snow is darn sarf. I'm not saying that a few people didn't make the most of the weather conditions, but there are other factors apart from just the snow. Some people have to get home by a certain time to pick children up from school or childminders or have appointments that they simply can't miss. They may well have made it into work without that much of a delay/problem but to get home in time before the weather got worse or more chaos was caused by cancellation of more trains and buses, they would have had to turn right round and start their journeys home. Its not just a case of "well, the tube's working so you can get in to work", some people may not be able to get to the tube station without a long walk or a (cancelled) bus journey.

As I said, I don't for one minute think everyone was physically incapable of getting into work, but (call me naive) I'd like to think the ones that could, mostly did.

I love you.

That is all.

Lili - if you live at the end of the line of a bit which is part suspended (I do, the district line) and you also need the jubilee line to get to work and you have no buses and no trains (well, 1 or 2 an hour which was likely to be severely delayed, as per the SW trains website), then there isn't really a lot else you can do.

I think you're being a bit smug as you got to work and now want people to feel bad who couldn't get in.

? I have done the same three times and I wasn't even scheduled to work today.

There are those who will always swing the lead and use the merest dusting of snow as an excuse but, to be fair, this was a significant snowfall. However, I do think this country is a total embarrassment when it snows and cringe at the thought of the rest of the world laughing at us. You'd think we'd have put mechanisms in place to cope with it by now.

Delete your posts people, she ain't the boss of us ?

Fair enough!

Yep I am cynical - I just found it hard to believe so many people I'm directly connected to IRL couldn't get to work - whole companies closing - it just seemed a little far fetched.

I didn't think for one minute it would have been easy for most of those people to get in but based on my experience this morning I found it hard to believe it would have been impossible but maybe it was and I was just very lucky!

Hi, walked to work no buses or trains walking knee deep in snow for and an hour and 40mins quite pleasant really!! work in a pharmacy so had to go in really!! got there at 11.00 left at 2.30 (wish i could do that everyday!) but lucky got a black cab home, my boss left at 3 and took him 3 and a half hours to walk home not sure about 2moro!!

A good point well made, Chook.

FWIW I got up and out of the flat as normal, and as I was wondering whether I'd be able to make it across the snowy waste to get my bus, a bloke who happened to be standing around told me there was no transport. So I came back up to the flat, checked the interweb and verified it. Sure, I could have walked the km or so to the nearest tube station, waited ages for a train and maybe got in to the office. Or I could have worked from home, available all day on phone and email. Hardly skiving, Lilli.

And did you ever the answer the question about how your husband reacted when you put all his shirts in the shower?