SHROPSHIRE’S gritting teams will be out and about across the county this weekend as they carry out their annual dry run ahead of winter.

Shropshire Council and its highways contractor Kier have 25 gritters plus four reserve vehicles – along with nine footway ploughs and snow blowers – ready to treat 25 gritting routes totalling 2,353km (1,462 miles).

Dan Morris, Cabinet member for highways, said: “A great amount of work and planning goes into keeping us all safe during the winter and our highways teams are prepared for when the worst of the weather hits.

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“Every year, when the wintry weather arrives, our gritters and their fantastic help to keep the county’s roads safe and accessible during spells of ice and snow, and help to keep Shropshire moving in even the worst of the weather.

“Often working late at night, early in the morning, on weekends, and sometimes on bank holidays – we may not see them, but they’ll be out there when needed.

“That’s why I want to say a big thank you to all of our gritter drivers and crews for the work they will be carrying out in the coming months to keep our roads safe.”

Over the summer, work was carried out to ensure that vehicles and drivers are ready when ice and snow arrive.

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The gritters have been serviced and maintained, and more than 22,000 tonnes of rock salt are now in stock across the council’s three highways depots.

This dry run is an essential part of this work, carried out to make sure the drivers re-familiarise themselves with the routes, gritters and any alterations, as well as making sure there are no problems with the fleet.  

All vehicles will be travelling slowly with warning lights to easily identify them to all road users but grit will not be used.

Shropshire Council’s’ fleet also includes a number of mini gritters, with crews on standby to treat high-risk areas including town centre roads, pavements and car parks.

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And Shropshire Council also maintains 850 local salt bins during the winter, with people able to use salt from their local salt bins to treat pavements and roads.

The gritters are owned by Shropshire Council and located at its highways depots in Shrewsbury, Craven Arms and Whittington, near Oswestry.

In addition, many contractors and farmers have snow-clearing equipment and the council’s divisional officers deploy this supplementary equipment following heavy snowfall in rural areas.