Wolverhampton City Council's fleet of gritters are once again primed and ready for action should freezing conditions take hold over the winter.

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The 9 gritting lorries and their drivers are on constant standby from now until Spring and 4,000 tonnes of salt is in stock to keep the city moving when the temperatures drop below zero.

The council routinely treats 229 miles every time the gritters go out - which is 62% of all the city's roads - one of the highest percentages in the region. That's the equivalent of driving from Wolverhampton to the Scottish border.

Last year the crews were called out 32 times whenever road surface temperatures were forecast to fall below freezing.

Each call out takes between 3 to 4 hours to complete and around 45 tonnes of salt is used each time.

Councillor John Reynolds, cabinet member for city services, said: "Keeping people safe and the city moving is our focus every winter and an enormous amount of work behind the scenes goes into making it happen.

"Our gritting crews are on standby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - including over Christmas and New Year. That call out could come at any hour of the day or night and they have to be ready to respond immediately.

"There is also a dedicated back office which constantly monitors the forecast - including data coming in from across the region and information specific to Wolverhampton. They will then decide whether to send the gritters out taking into account all sorts of factors to decide when the optimal time for them to go out is.

"We treat 62% of all Wolverhampton's roads each time the gritters go out and that is one of the highest percentages in the region."

In heavy snowfall, the gritters focus their efforts on keeping priority routes moving. Once those have been treated, the council will treat pavements and walkways and respond to calls for help from members of the public.

  • released: Thursday 20 November, 2014