Gritting in numbers - how the roads are kept safe

Worcestershire County Council said there was a fleet of 33 vehicles

As the new year brings wintry weather warnings and the possibility of more snow, attention turns to how rural counties will cope.

The Worcestershire County Council gritting team has been revealing some of the contingencies in place - and the facts and stats behind the operation.

How many vehicles and routes?

The authority has 27 "primary gritting routes" - these are major roads - and 27 secondary routes "which we also grit when certain criteria are met".

The operation is delivered via six depots across the county, with a fleet of 33 vehicles to do the job.

Tell me about staying power

The rock salt stockpiled in the county is "effective to minus nine and it lasts for up to 24 hours", said cabinet member with responsibility for highways and transport Marc Bayliss.

The operation was 24/7, 365 days a year, he said, and "we have to make sure that we're ready for whatever the weather throws at us".

"We do our homework looking at what's happening in terms of the weather and we prepare."

What about stocks?

At a facility at Newland, for example, there are 2,000 tonnes of rock salt ready to go.

Helping to ensure that enough is available county-wide is Ringway Worcestershire, which delivers highway and fleet services as a partner to the council.

It says its stock comes from "mines in Cheshire"; the brown, lifesaving particles being derived "from clay".

And what about shifts?

Mr Bayliss said a decision on nighttime deployment was normally made at about midday, with workers going out at 18:00.

According to Ringway: "We might have to go out to treat again, what we call back-to-back gritting.

"So you might treat it, say, [at] 11 o'clock. [Then in] about three or four hours' time, you might have to go back at it... if it's rained and washed [the grit] off."

One cab operator said: "If it's heavy snow, then it could be between a 10 and a 12-hour shift.

"But normal shifts, you could [do] four hours and that's it, you're done."

At the Newland depot, there were seven trucks and two shifts, he added.

'A big old county'

Mr Bayliss said: "Worcestershire's a big old county and from Redditch down to Broadway, the Herefordshire border, I mean it's a big patch.

"But we've got a good plan... It's something we've been developing obviously over the years.

"We know where people travel and we obviously focus primarily on the big routes to start with.

"But we do, if conditions require it, get out there and do all the smaller stuff as well."