Aberdeen’s gritter drivers, grounds staff, fleet maintenance team and support staff were today praised for their hard work so far this winter by the city council.
A total of 7,700 tonnes of salt has been used to grit Aberdeen’s 620 miles of roads and 1,242 miles of pavements, which are prioritised to ensure that the main routes are kept open.
The recent 10 days of snow and ice has meant more salt has been used than recent years and an extra delivery of 3,000 tonnes of salt was delivered on December 22.
A further delivery of 3,000 tonnes will be delivered by boat to the harbour in the new year, adding to the council’s current stock levels of 15,000 tonnes.
Gritter drivers have been working round-the-clock shifts and the council has had to grit primary routes three times some nights, as well as during the day, when it was snowing to combat the constant freeze/thaw/freeze effect.
‘Dedicated staff go above and beyond their duty’
Aberdeen City Council co-leader, Ian Yuill said: “The gritter drivers, grounds staff and support office staff have done an excellent job so far this winter and particularly in the recent snowy spell.
“Even in difficult winter conditions, our dedicated staff go above and beyond their duty to help people while doing their best to grit roads and pavements, however, we cannot be everywhere around the city at the same time and we also thank people who are community spirited and spread salt in their streets.”
The council’s net zero, environment and transport vice convener, Miranda Radley, added: “We want to keep the main roads open and residents safe and we’d encourage people to keep a close check on weather forecasts, plan their journeys, adhere to police and travel advice, and look up information at www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/winter.”
In total, Aberdeen City Council has used about 180 staff to deal with the challenging weather so far this winter, including some ground staff who assist when there is snow or ice on the ground.
Conversation