FEATURE: Gritting facts and figures

n The county’s gritters treat 1,869 miles (3,008 km) of roads in the county – just over a third of Lincolnshire’s entire 5,500 mile road network.

n The gritters are on call 24/7 and can be called out in the early mornings, in the harshest conditions and even on Christmas Day.

n All A and B roads are salted and all the main NHS hospitals, railway and bus stations are linked to the treated network – public service and school bus routes are taken into consideration.

n Where physically possible, the gritters also try to salt within 500 metres of all primary and secondary schools.

n There are 43 routes with one gritter for each route, however, there are five spare gritters incase of emergency.

n In 2014, 40,000 tonnes of grit was used to treat the county’s roads – the highest on the council’s records.

n All public service and school bus drivers are professional drivers trained to drive in winter weather conditions.

n Earlier this month, a newly-constructed salt barn at Willingham Hall highways depot, near Market Rasen, was opened, enabling the council and Kier to store twice as much salt in optimum, dry conditions.