'Mevagritty' voted top gritter name in competition

The council asked the people of Cornwall to pick the names for its fleet of gritters

Mevagritty has topped a poll as Cornwall's favourite gritter name, after a competition to name the council's fleet.

The authority received more than 2,000 suggestions from people across the county, and were then asked to choose their top 25.

As well as Mevagritty - a nod to the fishing village Mevagissey - people selected 'Proper Job', 'Gurt Licker the Gritter', 'Choughed to Grits' and 'Demeltza' as the top five.

Steve Bayley, Cornwall highway network manager, said the competition had "really captured the imagination of Cornwall's residents".

He said: "It has been fun to put a smile on people's faces during a rather wet winter, and it really captured the imagination of Cornwall's residents.

"One of my personal favourites was 'Crimp my Ride'—we couldn't let a pasty reference go unnoticed, and we had to take some suggestions with a pinch of salt.

"But there's also a serious side—bringing the public closer to the team's work who go out day and night to keep them safe each year.”

'Well-earned rest'

Richard Williams-Pears, Cornwall Council cabinet portfolio holder for transport, said the names of the council's fleet of gritters would be revealed in the autumn.

He said: “Cormac’s gritters treated almost 35,000 miles of roads across Cornwall between October and March this year – that’s almost one and half times around the equator.

"They’ve now gone for a well-earned rest and we’ll unveil the gritters and their new names once they return from their summer hibernation in the autumn.”

Managed by Cormac, Cornwall has 25 gritters, with three in reserve.

It takes about three hours to treat each of the 25 salting routes, which cover about 883 miles of the road network and include the most heavily used A and B roads in the county.

The top 25 names

1 – Mevagritty

2 - Proper Job

3 - Gurt Licker the Gritter

4 - Choughed to Grits

5 - Demeltza

6 - Dreckly me ‘ansum

7 - RNAS Cold Nose

8 - The Gritterman’s Friends

9 - Sir Grit-A-Lot

10 - Shiverton Cross

11 - Spreadruth

12 - The Beast of Bodmin

13 - Gryttin Da!

14 - Salt Piran

15 - Salty Maid

16 - Salty McSaltash

17 - Daphne du Meltier

18 - Kernow bys grittin

19 - Jam First

20 - Wheal Gritty

21 - Humphreeze Davy

22 - Gritchard Trevithick

23 - Hayle Storm

24 - Crimp my Ride

25 - South Frosty