Snowminator, Freddie Salted & Mr Frosty Join Wrexham Council’s Gritting Fleet

With the winter months quickly approaching and the weather starting to get chillier, Wrexham Council is turning its attention to its gritting fleet and have this year given each of its 11 gritters a name!

Earlier this year Wrexham Council launched a Twitter competition asking residents of Wrexham to help name their 11 strong gritting fleet.

The Council has three salt storage depots, one in Abbey Road, one in Chirk and one in Llay and 8,000 tonnes of salt are in stock.

Residents throughout Wrexham can now lookout for Freddie Salted, Chillie Charlie, Sir Gritalot, Snowminator, Percy Plough, Freddie Freeze, Mr Frosty, Snow Problem, Ice Krispie, Bobbie Eira and True Grit.

Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for the Environment and Transport, said: “The drivers are ready to go and when required always do a fantastic job every winter season. We don’t know what weather is in store for us yet but we always plan for the worse inclement weather. We have made no changes to our policy and have 8,000 tonnes of salt in stock.”

#wxmgrit returns in November, or sooner if the weather gets really cold, and residents and businesses can use the hashtag to get the latest information including when gritting is taking place and in what areas. The information will be posted to Twitter and Facebook.

The Council has a fleet of 11 gritters to cover 10 routes throughout the county borough. You can find out if your street is on the pre selected routes here. They are manned by a volunteer force of 30 drivers who operate on a 3 week rota with 5 drivers on a reserve list.

They are called to action if necessary when a daily forecast is received that is specific to the county borough. Decisions are then taken on whether to send out the gritters or not. During particularly cold or snow conditions they can work around the clock to try and keep the county borough moving.

Wrexham Council are also asking people that if the weather does make getting out and about difficult to keep an eye out for elderly relatives or neighbours.