Bradford Council mobilises 26 gritters for dry run

Gritting teams took to the streets of Bradford in a rehearsal to test their readiness for extreme winter weather.

Bradford Council aims to ramp up it procedures this year and has stored away 26,000 tonnes of grit in readiness for winter, the largest amount it has ever held.

It mobilised it entire fleet of 26 gritters to give drivers and gritting teams a chance to get to know routes and to make sure there were no obstacles.

Each team was also allowed to check all equipment by gritting short sections of road.

Louise McCall, divisional manager for highways and maintenance, said: "We want staff to get to know the routes and make sure they're 100% familiar with where they're going to be going in the next few weeks."