What a laugh!
Luton Borough council has come under fire for a new leaflet that claims its success was not "put on ice" this winter despite the area grinding to a halt during last month's snow.
Luton Borough Council made the claim in its glossy new "Think Luton think success" leaflet.
Backed by a snowscene of Luton, it says: "Success has not been put on ice this winter.
"Despite the chill and the crunch Luton is still turning up the heat."
The leaflet claims several successes, including the completion of the £22m East Luton Corridor and £2m improvement works to the access at Luton Airport.
But the claims have been met with criticism after the town was brought to a standstill during last month's heavy snowfall.
Arctic conditions grounded flights at Luton airport and brought bus services, refuse service and the town's courts to a halt.
At one point the borough council issued an official warning to people not to go into the town at all unless absolutely necessary.
Today its leaflets claims were met with a scathing response by budget airline easyJet, which is now threatening legal action against the council and airport for £500,000 losses caused by closures during the snowfall.
The company says the airport failed to implement its Snow Plan and that the council breached its statutory duty.
Today spokesman Andrew McConnell said the picture was a strange choice as a sign of "success".
He said: "We are very surprised that the council has used a picture of new road taken at a time when there was snow - this certainly wasn't a good time for airline customers and staff who battled to get to the airport.
"The new road between the M1 motorway and the Airport is massively over budget and should have been finished 18 months ago; so to claim that it is a success is complete joke!"
But the council today said the leaflet was was "pefectly appropriate".
A spokesman said: "It is perfectly appropriate for the council to draw attention to the hard work of staff in keeping things moving during the recent bad weather.
"The weather was the worst winter conditions for 18 years and council staff were working around the clock to keep all major traffic routes around the town as free as possible from snow and ice."
The spokesman said refuse and recycling staff in Luton who could not perform their usual duties turned out to help with gritting.
He said the council's Highways Maintenance team sent lorries as far afield as Liverpool to bring in fresh supplies of salt and staffed an emergency telephone service for the public.
"The efforts made to maintain services for the most vulnerable members of our community, such as the home care staff working in adult care who braved the weather to take care of elderly residents, were greatly appreciated," the spokesman added.
"The extreme weather presented us with some exceptional challenges, which were met with equally exceptional efforts."