Lincolnshire's gritters blessed ahead of winter

The Rt Revd Dr Nigel Peyton blessed the county council's fleet in a ceremony in Sturton by Stow

A senior member of the clergy has blessed Lincolnshire's gritters ahead of winter.

The Rt Revd Dr Nigel Peyton, Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln, blessed the county council's fleet at a ceremony in Sturton by Stow.

The ceremony, now in its 20th year, plays a meaningful part in winter preparations, he said.

Lincolnshire County Council has 47 gritters and more than 29,000 tonnes of salt ready for use.

"The reason why we do this is, quite simply, to help people be aware of the upcoming weather and to remind them of how we need to keep ourselves safe, take care when driving and be courteous to others on the roads," the assistant bishop said.

'Very skilled job'

"The gritter drivers sometimes have to drive these lorries at very unsociable hours in order to keep us safe and that, especially in bad conditions, is a very skilled job to be able to do.

"We should all be grateful of the work these teams do. I think that, during the pandemic, we all learned to value people who we sometimes forgot about doing these sorts of jobs. These jobs that, perhaps, we don't see very often."

Richard Davies, executive member for highways at the county council, said: "With 5,500 miles of roads running through our county, our gritter crews face a mammoth task every winter to keep road users as safe as possible. It's far from easy to do what they do often at unsociable hours and in very difficult conditions.

"Our gritters are well prepared and have been put through a shake-down test to ensure everything is working as it should.

"And whilst we're ready to go, it's very much worthwhile underlining that in very low temperatures, even treated roads can be dangerous. Please take care and drive to the conditions."