Doctor frustrated with city response after paying $1,000 to clear sidewalk snow left by plow

A Winnipeg doctor is frustrated with the way the city handled his complaint about four feet of snow piled up in front of his North End clinic earlier this week.

Dr. Peter Arnott says he contacted media on Tuesday morning after he arrived at his clinic, the McGregor Medical Centre on Machray Street, and found between three to four feet of snow left outside the front door by a snowplow.

Arnott did not contact the city directly at that time.

He says media outlets spoke to city officials and reported city crews would come clear the snow shortly, but that didn't happen in a timely manner.

Later Tuesday, he paid a private contractor around $1,000 to have the snow removed.

"Nobody ever arrived or explained or followed up or did [anything], and that's what annoys me the most," Arnott said Friday.

"The city of Winnipeg were noticeably absent, uncommunicative and really not involved in what happened."

Arnott says he was told a city employee left a message at his clinic, but he didn't get through to anybody on the phone until Thursday.

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Risk to patients

Arnott says he didn't open his clinic on Tuesday because he was concerned it would pose a risk to his patients.

"I don't know what instructions the snow removers are given, but blocking entrances and exits is very, very dangerous," Arnott said.

"You must not advertise you're open when that happens, because a lot of my patients are elderly. They use walkers. They can't walk without some assistance. If they fall and break a hip, eventually that can be a fatal injury."

He says he thinks the snow plow operator should have been paying more attention to his surroundings and could have prevented the pile-up.

"The signage to the clinic is very clear, it's in big letters: one foot high, 12 foot long. 'Pharmacy, medical clinic.' What should he have done differently? All he needed to do is look [at] what he was doing."

The city of Winnipeg told CBC crews are working as quickly as possible to clear sidewalks and haul excess snow away.

Where possible, the city attempts to store snow on boulevards, but storage capacity is limited and some snow may spill over onto the sidewalk after a significant amount falls, the city said.

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