Hairdresser helps ferry supplies to Pinewood Nursing Home, Budleigh Salterton

STAFF at Budeigh Salterton’s Pinewood Nursing Home went the extra mile to get into work during last week’s snow.

The home is sited at the top Victoria Place hill and vehicles had trouble negotiating the icy roads.

Yet despite Devon County Council’s gritters not reaching the side roads, Mr Sadeghi, one of the directors of the home, said 95 percent of his staff made it in.

“They did extremely well and I commend them,” he said. “Many live in Exmouth and one of the girls’ husbands owns a 4 x 4 and drove them in.”

A helping hand was also given by the home’s hairdresser, Jamie McMullan, who visits once a week to style residents’ hair.

“He also has a 4 x 4 and picked up deliveries from the bottom of the road for us,” said Mr Sadeghi, whose home caters for 35 residents needing nursing care.

He said Pinewood’s residents were unaffected by the adverse conditions because of the efforts of his staff and their hairdresser.

Neither were visitors put off by the snow.

“It was not a major problem. Most people parked at the bottom of the hill and walked up.

“I don’t think anyone ever predicted how much snow we were going to get. We had gritted the road on Saturday, but when the fresh snow landed it didn’t melt. We tried sanding again but it didn’t do any good. We are reviewing different options for dealing with extreme winter conditions in the future including ice melting liquids and possibly 4 x 4 vehicles”.

A spokesman for DCC said: “Our salting network is made up of the major routes where the majority of vehicle movements take place, and includes accesses to hospitals, ambulance stations, fire stations, other emergency service establishments and secondary schools.

“Victoria Place is just off our salting network and so unfortunately just misses treatment by gritter lorry.

“We do however provide grit in roadside bins for local people to use responsibly on highways that are off the main salting network.”

If resources allow, the council will also treat paths to health centres, hospitals, council nursing homes, main shopping areas and emergency services.