Gritters were out in force last night ahead of the incoming “Beast from the East” forecast to batter the north-east this week.
Busy city streets, roads outside community facilities, shops, clinics, sheltered housing and schools as well as cycle lanes were treated, with the Met Office warning of up to a foot of snow and temperatures as low as -10C possible.
Last night, calls were made for Aberdeen City Council to make sure they had learnt lessons from the last cold snap in December – which one councillor claimed had left pavements in a “deadly” conditions with many residents “trapped” at home.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for today, which increases in severity to amber on Wednesday and Thursday.
Councillor Ross Grant, the administration’s roads spokesman, revealed the winter maintenance teams are primed – with more than 8,500 tonnes of salt in stock, 45 dedicated vehicles and 90 workers on hand.
But Liberal Democract opposition leader Ian Yuill called for more to be done to help communities deal with the icy pavements, by delivering more salt.
He said: “I absolutely accept that the council doesn’t have the capacity to treat every road surface and pavement in the city.
“People were telling me that they just didn’t feel safe walking on the pavements (in December), people used words like ‘ice rinks’ and ‘deadly’ to describe the pavements.
“Lots of people took to walking on the roads because of it. Others were trapped in their houses unable to leave.
“I think the council needs to get better at helping people help themselves with delivering salt.”
A total of 338 of 849 attendances at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary’s emergency department over just four days in December were blamed on ice, snow, slips, trips or falls.
Last night a city council spokeswoman said that around 180 one-tonne salt bags had been delivered – up from 80 in a typical year.
She said that as the backlog is being tackled, the council cannot accept new requests for bags.
And Mr Grant added: “In December the particular challenge was around the freeze and thaw, so the ice was thawing and then freezing again so it was a repetitive operation we had to engage in.
“I think it is important that we manage expectations, we are urging residents to be prepared. It’s fair to say there could be some disruption and some people might experience delays.”
