GRITTING lorries Nicole Saltslinger, Brad Gritt and Leonardo de ice io will be joining a mass effort to prepare the streets for this weekend’s wild weather.
The individually-named vehicles from Oldham County Counci will be battling to keep traffic moving as Greater Manchester is expecting up to 20cm of snow in the wake of Storm Caroline.
Hundreds of schoolchildren have voted to name the fleet of gritters, with one being named ‘Nicole Saltslinger’ by Royton Hall Primary School pupil Eve McGrath. Other gritters have been named Brad Gritt and Leonardo de-ice-io..
[pullquote]”It brings the night time world of gritting to kids who wouldn’t usually know anything about this and it’s just good fun!”[/pullquote]
Craig Dale, head of operational services at Oldham Council, said: “Preparation for weather like this has been underway since the summer and all the gritters are ready to go from 7.30am until midnight every day.
“Two or three days ahead everything can change with a snow forecast but Friday night will be bitterly cold, and on Sunday we can expect some significant snow.”
Oldham Council was the first to run a competition to name gritters in 2012.
Mr Dale added: “It brings the night time world of gritting to kids who wouldn’t usually know anything about this and it’s just good fun!
“It’s amazing how it’s been so popular and now councils all over the country are doing the same, we’ve got exciting plans in the pipeline for doing something similar with our Recycling project.”
The Oldham Council Team will be patrolling the streets through the day and night whatever the weather throws at us this weekend!
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