SCOTTISH PUBLIC SUBMIT 1,200 NAMES FOR WINTER GRITTING VEHICLES
An appeal to name the 50-strong fleet of gritters covering 400 miles of Scotland’s trunk roads from Glasgow to Dumfries and through to Ayr and Stranraer, has received over 1,200 online entries; with the first of the successful nominations being revealed today.
“Charles RennIce MackinSlush”, in reference to the iconic Glaswegian artist and architect, is the first of the new gritter names to be announced.
This gritter will join existing gritters on the network including “Yes Sir, Ice Can Boogie”, “Buzz IceClear”, and IRN-BRU®’s “Grits You Thru”.
Other successful entrants will be posted on the @SWTrunkRoads Twitter account each day, in the coming weeks. The naming appeal, which is normally run in conjunction with local schools, was moved online this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and opened to the wider Scottish public.
Many of the names submitted paid tribute to the recent passing of James Bond actor and Scottish icon Sir Sean Connery; and as a result five of the newly named vehicles will be badged in tribute to Sir Sean, and will reference several of the Bond movies. These are “Dr Snow”, “Coldfinger”, “You Only Grit Ice”, “On Her Majesty’s Slippery Surface” and “TroonRaker”!
The newly named gritters will be operated by Amey the company responsible for maintaining the Scottish South-West trunk road network on behalf of Transport Scotland. The appeal ran from 23rd December 2020 until 15th January 2021 attracting a record number of submissions.
To support the travelling public, a free Winter Road Alerts service is available, providing real-time updates on weather-related incidents on the network.
An email address is all that is required to sign up for this service: https://swtrunkroads.scot/roadwork-alerts/
More details of NMC SW Winter Services can be found here: https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/48662/winter-service-plan-2020-2021-sw-unit.pdf
Our full NMC SW Winter Plan can be found on the Transport Scotland website: https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/48662/winter-service-plan-2020-2021-sw-unit.pdf
To report a problem on the network please visit: https://swtrunkroads.scot/report-a-problem/
Real-time journey information can be obtained by visiting www.trafficscotland.org or via Twitter: @TrafficScotland