• ‘I want to break freeze’ – 47 of BEAR Scotland’s popular gritters ready to face winter weather

• 25,000 tonnes of salt ready to treat trunk roads across South East Scotland

BEAR Scotland and its popular team of gritters are geared up and ready to tackle Scotland’s infamous winter weather as temperatures begin to drop.

Forty-seven winter vehicles, including twenty-two 32-tonne eight-wheeler spreaders, will be on hand to treat the trunk roads across South East Scotland. Some of the largest spreaders operating in the UK, including ‘I want to break freeze’, ‘Snow Connery’ and ‘Licence to Chill’, will be covering the patch.

Over 90 operatives and 25,000 tonnes of salt will be dedicated to keeping the 505km South East trunk route network as clear as possible over the winter period.
Winter frontline vehicles will carry out precautionary treatments, which aim to stop ice forming. This involves spreading pre-wetted salt on routes forecast to experience low temperatures. Patrol vehicles will also monitor conditions and carry out treatments if required.

The four major bridges – Queensferry Crossing, Forth Road Bridge, Clackmannanshire Bridge and Kincardine Bridge – will be treated with potassium acetate de-icer by a dedicated tanker sprayer, in order to avoid salt causing corrosion in the bridges’ steelwork.

Central to BEAR Scotland’s winter strategy is its 24/7 network hub – a control room team which analyses detailed weather forecasts and road temperatures to ensure treatments are carried out as necessary.

Iain Murray, BEAR Scotland’s Managing Director, said: “Our team are incredibly dedicated to ensuring that Scotland’s key routes remain open and safe for motorists over the winter period.

“We monitor road conditions 24/7 and always do as much as possible to mitigate any adverse winter weather that may head our way. We would, however, like to remind members of the public that it’s important for them to play their part by ensuring their vehicles are well maintained. It’s also essential that we all pay close attention to local and national media so that we can plan ahead for our journeys.”

Members of the public can live track gritters on the trunk road network using Transport Scotland’s online ‘trunk road gritter tracker’. It displays the current location of gritters and a trail with an age range for where gritters have previously passed along trunk routes across Scotland.

Last year BEAR Scotland carried out over 2,331 treatments across Scotland’s South East trunk roads.

The winter service period will typically run from 1 October to 15 May each year and can be extended beyond these dates should conditions dictate.