THE big freeze comes with a big price tag.

As the North-East struggles to keep moving, and the Mayor of Middlesbrough talks of fact-finding missions to Scandinavia to learn lessons on coping with the snow, business leaders estimate that the region’s economy could have lost nearly £500m by the time we see a thaw.

Cold snaps, not nearly as severe as the one which has spanned the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, have caught us off-guard plenty of times before. But we never seem to learn.

And while there are undoubtedly many cases of genuine hardship preventing people reaching work, there are also the inevitable examples of those who do not try very hard to overcome nature’s obstacles.

Anyone feeling pangs of conscience about not making it into work would do well to read today’s story on Page 4 about Sarah Hodgson.

Sarah could easily have stayed in bed when her car got snowed in and public transport ground to a halt between her home in Delves Lane, near Consett, and Oldfields restaurant in Durham City where she works as a supervisor.

Instead, she got up at 5am and walked nearly 15 miles through the snow to get to work on time.

“I made it in four hours. I thought it would take longer,” she told us, casually.

Sarah, we salute you. In the midst of these Arctic conditions, your dedication to duty is a glowing example to us all and heaps shame on the skivers of the world.

Just imagine how the economy would benefit if every employer could rely on the likes of the intrepid Sarah Hodgson.