Nottinghamshire gritters put to bed after tough winter

Gritters from across Nottinghamshire have been put to bed for the summer after the county council’s last salting run of the season.

Vehicles were taken off the road at the start of April after completing what was believed to be the last salting run – before below freezing temperatures brought them back out for what appears to have been the final run on Sunday, April 12.

Nottinghamshire County Council has now taken them off the run once again with crews moving onto summer grass cutting duties.

A spokesman for the authority said: “Over the course of the winter, the Council’s 23 gritting teams completed 88 gritting runs over 76 days with the busiest periods being those between December 26 and 28 and January 26 to 30.

“In total, some 19,100 tonnes of salt were used this winter and the Council is planning ahead for next year with deliveries already taking place to restock its four salt barns.”

The authority’s gritting teams traditionally go on part-time standby on October 1, moving to full 24/7 standby on November 1 and remaining so until the end of March – but later if needed.

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Nottinghamshire County Council’s gritting fleet.

Up on last year

The figures for this winter show that gritting teams were kept busier than the previous year, which saw gritters going out 67 times and using the least amount of grit on the county’s roads since the winter of 2006/07.

“This compares strikingly with statistics for winter 2012/13 which saw gritting teams turn out for 130 runs, using a total of 23,370 tonnes of salt.,” added the Council’s spokesman.