To be honest, the volume of snow that has fallen is unusual, especially in he south of the country.It seems a unfair to blame the councils for everything. It appears these days that so many people live a long way from their workplace.
My daughter is an accountant, one guy in her office has been walking 9 miles each way to get to work.
What has been interesting is the amount of wimps appearing on news bulletins saying they are staying at home for safety reasons, to listen to them you would think they were talking about sledging to the South Pole.
My wife spent some years teaching in rural Canada. They were geared up for the snow, but even then she found the quickest way to school was on skis. They close schools only if the temp. goes to -25
My brother in law in Canada emailed to say its just warmed up to -5 deg. Needless to say, he uses studded tyres at this time of year. Try buying those at your local Kwik Fit.
Canada gets this weather every winter for about 3-4 months, we get it maybe once in 15yrs for a couple of weeks, its stands to reason we aren't going gear up for it.