‘Snowball’ the gritting vehicle is on standby this weekend after weather forecasts showed an increased likelihood of snow through Saturday night and Sunday morning.
The vehicle, one of eleven new gritting vehicles recently purchased by South Gloucestershire Council, was given its name by pupils at Baileys Court Primary School following a district-wide ‘name your gritter’ competition.
The competition was staged as part of a campaign to highlight the importance of winter road safety and the vital role of the winter gritting fleet.
The Council’s gritters treat approximately 14,000 miles of South Gloucestershire’s roads each year and the new vehicles use state-of-the-art technology to ensure fast and effective gritting coupled with lower fuel consumption and carbon emissions and more effective use of road salt.
More than 6,000 tonnes of salt – enough for an entire winter’s gritting in South Gloucestershire and sufficient to cover more than 40,000 miles of roads – are currently held in storage and the winter maintenance team uses a sophisticated forecasting system to anticipate weather conditions and plan salt runs.
Read more: Council readies gritters for weekend snow
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