got snowed in like everybody else and sat in the car for 5hrs like a muppet. Lost the job (they had to get someone else in), yet the skies were clear and I could have made it to my airport and flown up to Southend in time.
This is a poor reason for owning a plane. Though there are a few occasions where weather would allow you to fly, but not drive, they are so rare, you're fooling yourself into thinking that an aircraft is the way around weather. This rule changes somewhat when the aircraft under discussion is a fully IFR turbine twin, but we're not even close to that discussion.
I'm not an expert at snow in the UK, but I am pretty experienced at flying in Canadian snow, and when not to attempt to fly in it. An occasionally rather scary learning curve, I assure you! The snow is coming from somewhere, maybe clear skis where you're looking, but there's poor weather somewhere close by...
A light aircraft is
not a means to travel, when weather is the least concern for any other mode of transport. I have used my plane to commute to jobs for 23 years, and my car for much longer. But, if I really have to be there on time, I buy a ticket on a commercial flight, and leave the plane at home.
Though light aicraft can be a business tool, they certainly are no more dependable than a car as one. It's tough to sit stuck in traffic, looking up, but remember the well used avaition saying: "It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here!". Wishing the former is fun, wishing the latter is very scary!