Cold weather: NI road gritting disrupted due to staff shortages

Higher ground routes were gritted on Monday afternoon, with the whole network due to be gritted overnight

Drivers have been urged to take care as road gritting services are disrupted by industrial action, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has said.

A snow and ice warning is in place until 10:00 on Tuesday.

But the department said there were not enough staff to run a morning and afternoon gritting rota.

Precautionary gritting of higher ground routes did take place on Monday afternoon, with gritting of the wider network scheduled to happen overnight.

In a statement the department urged road users "to exercise extreme caution while driving, especially on untreated roads" during the cold period.

Last week, road maintenance workers in Unite and GMB walked out for seven days in a dispute over pay.

Disruption to winter services, such as gritting, is part of continuing strike action over a pay structure and productivity bonus within the road service.

This will be in place unless there is a agreement between unions and the department.

Alan Perry, regional organiser for GMB, said the union had met with the DfI on Monday, but no resolution was reached.

Gareth Scott, Unite regional officer for roads service workers, said unions had been in discussions with employers for five years over the issue, but no progress had been made.

"Our members are involved in industrial action and so most of them won't be attending the winter service," he told BBC's Evening Extra programme.

The gritting network includes 107 routes, comprising of 4,300 miles (7,000km) of road.

Most motorways, the A1 and A4 will not be affected by the industrial action.