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Snow days cost firms £7.8M
By Lorna Catling and Mike PyleFebruary 09, 2009
Bracknell workers who stayed at home because of the snow have cost the borough’s economy £7.8 million.
A fifth of the country’s workforce took so-called snow days on Monday and Tuesday, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
In Bracknell Forest it means 13,262 workers would have stayed at home.
Did you stay at home or did you make it to work duirng last week's snow? Comment here.
The FSB has estimated each snow day cost the UK economy £1.2 billion – a fifth of the £6 billion each Bank Holiday costs.
According to Government statistics, Bracknell Forest workers contribute £39 billion a year to the national economy, meaning two snow days cost £7.8 million.
Mary Flavelle, from the Berkshire FSB, said: “I suppose the one positive thing you can say that has come out of all this is that it gave lots of people a bit of light relief.
“For the first time in ages there were photos of people smiling in the newspapers.”
Bracknell Forest Council leader Paul Bettison said many employees would have worked from home.
He said: “The thing is that given a lot of these people [who work in Bracknell Forest] would be executives in high-tech companies they would have just plugged their laptops in at home and done a normal days work.
“They would have actually saved their company money because they did not have to pay to heat and light up an office.”
Coping with the snow meant Bracknell Forest Council spent £2,000 gritting the roads.
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