Snow joke for salons hit by bad weather!

HJ News Editor Matthew Batham reflects on the week when the hairdressing industry resiliently battled on while the snow ground the rest of the UK to a halt.

Who'd have thought a bit of snow could cause so much havoc? From the furore it created, you'd think it was an utterly alien concept - "What is this white flaky stuff falling from the sky!"

It has happened quite a few times before! But this meteorological blip forced schools across the country to close, brought roads to a state of gridlock and public transport systems grinding to a halt - all bad news for British business, including salons.

Whether it was clients cancelling appointments or staff stranded at home, salon owners across the country were counting the costs of Snowgate.

What a waste!

The Federation of Small Businesses estimated that Tuesday's flurry alone had cost UK commerce £1.2bn in lost business and staff absences. The FSB also estimated that 20% of the UK's working population did not make it to work - that's 6.4 million people!

No-one immune

Even big names like Errol Douglas in London suffered as a result of the country's inability to cope with the dreaded white stuff. "Monday was a total write-off," fumed Errol. "Not a single staff member was able to get to the salon because public transport had ground to a halt.

"I find it amazing that London was so unprepared for snow when we all knew it was coming a week in advance."

Didn't you do well!

Despite all the problems, most salons managed to open - even if their clients couldn't get to them! Said Harry Walker, president of the National Hairdressers' Federation:

"It's a tribute to our industry that so many salons opened their doors when individual branches of major high street retail chains shut shop."

Above and beyond

Graham Richardson, manager of Cutting Room Creative in Leeds left so early in order to avoid any chaos, he was in work for 6.10am! When staff arrived he was asleep in reception.