Amey gritters ready for action in South-West Scotland

New names sought for Winter gritting fleet 

Amey, the company responsible for maintaining the motorway and trunk road network in South-West Scotland, have unveiled their Winter Service Plan for 2023 to 2024, which it operates on behalf of Transport Scotland. Amey’s Winter Service will operate until midnight on Thursday 16th May 2024. 

To prepare for this Winter, Amey have amassed 21,000 tonnes of road salt, 231,000 litres of brine, and 50,000 litres of potassium acetate. The winter service is overseen by 10 Winter Service Duty Officers (WSDO) who provide a 24/7 presence on the network. The 17,500-tonne capacity salt barn at Amey’s Polmadie Depot, established in 2021, will continue to provide increased resilience in tackling adverse weather conditions across the trunk road network. 

The South-West Winter Service is comprised of 27 Frontline Routes, 15 Patrol Routes, and 12 Footway Routes (requiring 197km of winter treatment). The service is delivered by 56 Econ gritters and snowploughs, 16 footpath gritters, 12 tractors, and 115 Highways Operatives. Winter Patrol vehicles are equipped with the latest Mobile Condition Monitoring Equipment and are fitted with Dash Cams. In addition, an innovative liquid brine solution is being used on all roads and footpaths, to provide a more effective clearance of ice and snow. 

GRITTER NAMING APPEAL 2023/2024 

Amey South-West Trunk Roads are once again running a popular gritter-naming appeal that has, to date, led to over 6,000 gritter names being submitted by the Scottish public for consideration. Entries will be accepted from Wednesday 8th November 2023 until 5pm on Tuesday 16th January 2024. The newly named gritters will join classics such as “Sir Grits Hoy”, “Yes Sir, Ice Can Boogie”, “Skid Vicious”, and “Sweet Child O’ Brine”.  

Winners from last year’s competition and new additions to the fleet for the 2023/2024 winter season include: 

“Kevin Fridges” (Comedian, Kevin Bridges) 

“Stone Cold Steve Frostin” (WWE Star and Actor, Steve Austin) 

“Keanu Freeze” (Actor, Keanu Reeves) 

“Polar Abdul” (Singer and American Idol Judge, Paula Abdul) 

“Taylor Drift” (Singer, Taylor Swift) 

“Sleeter Andre” (Singer, Peter Andre) 

“Skate Bush” (Singer, Kate Bush) 

Scotland’s tradition of coming up with inventive and fun names for their gritter fleet has gone viral on social media and makes headlines around the world. In December 2020, Amey’s South-West fleet, with their distinctive bright orange livery, attracted the attention of IRN-BRU® who named a gritter “Grits You Thru”. In 2021, another iconic Scottish treat joined the fleet with staff at family-run bakery Tunnock’s coining a vehicle “Caramelt Wafer”. 

Gritter names can be submitted to Amey online from today via a page on swtrunkroads.scot.  Gritter name reveals will take place on the @SWTRUNKROADS Facebook and Twitter channels and will appear live on the Traffic Scotland Gritter Tracker.