Fleets of gritters have been hitting roads across the UK as temperatures plummet below freezing this week. Salt spreaders are necessary to keep drivers safe on the roads as icy conditions descend.
The Met Office has issued warnings across the UK, with a warning for snow and ice in place across Greater Manchester until midday on Sunday. Elsewhere, temperatures are expected to plunge as low as -10C heading into next week.
Police have warned motorists in the north west to take care while driving. On Saturday morning, officers said they had responded to road traffic collisions on several major roads.
READ MORE: Manchester Airport runway closed due to snow - latest advice and what to do if you're due to fly
Darren Clark, severe weather resilience manager at National Highways, said gritters would be out to keep motorways and major A-roads open. “National Highways is committed to treating every road which needs to be treated – whenever it is needed," he said.
In true Brit style, many of the grit spreaders put to work on the roads have been given punny nicknames. From the nation that brought you Boaty McBoatface, here are some of the best gritter names we know of.
- Gritney Houston - East Riding of Yorkshire
- Thaw Enforcement - East Riding of Yorkshire
- Gritter Thunberg - Manchester
- Snowel Gallagher - Manchester
- Nicole Saltslinger - Oldham
- Carrie Bradthaw - Strathaven, South Lanarkshire
- Usain Salt - Irvine, North Ayrshire
- Gritly Come Dancing - Crieff, Perth and Kinross
- Grit Tok - Fankerton, Falkirk
- You're A Blizzard, Harry - Dumfries
- Lord Coldemort - Dumfries
- Itsy Bitsy Teeney Weeney Yellow Anti-Slip Machiney - Doncaster
- David Plowie - Doncaster
It is thought that the trend took off back in 2020 when Amey, a company responsible for maintaining public highways in parts of the UK, ran a competition to let the public name their gritters. Traffic Scotland even has a website where you can track its whole gritting fleet. You can find the website here.
National Highways has a total of 535 gritters based at 128 depots across England. The Local Government Association said councils in England – which manage local roads – have an average of eight gritters and three pieces of related equipment such as snow blowers, tractors and quad bikes.
What's your favourite punny gritter name? Let us know in the comments below.
The Met Office said the snowy conditions could lead to more travel disruption, especially on Monday morning. It added that there is a small chance of some rural communities becoming cut off along with a possibility of power cuts and mobile phone coverage being affected.
Met Office chief meteorologist Dan Stroud advised people to “stay up to date with the latest forecast forecasts, and if you are travelling, plan your route carefully, take extra cautions and give yourself extra time to travel because roads will be slippery and there will be a lot of frost around the place.”
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