Scotland’s weather response in full swing

With Scotland experiencing cold temperatures and snow, Transport Minister Derek Mackay has visited a salt depot near Glasgow to see the preparations that are being made for the wintry weather.

Gritters have already been out on trunk roads across the country in recent days in response to the winter conditions and Mr Mackay saw salt being loaded onto some of the spreaders used by the Scotland Transerv team at Polmadie.

He also took part in discussions with the Met Office, Police Scotland, Traffic Scotland and the Trunk Road Operating Companies, to ensure that the response to the current yellow weather warning for snow is as co-ordinated and effective as possible.

On a wider basis, agencies and organisations are working together to put their response plans into gear to keep any disruption as a result of difficult conditions to a minimum.

The Scottish Government’s Ready for Winter campaign draws all of these efforts together to offer information and advice on the simple steps that people, businesses and communities can take to prepare for and reduce the risks of winter weather.

Transport Minister, Derek Mackay said: “While this weather is not unusual in Scotland at this time of year, some areas are seeing their first snowfall of the season.

“A wide range of agencies and organisations are working together to implement their response plans with the aim of keeping disruption in difficult conditions to a minimum.

“The efforts being made by the team here at Scotland Transerv are being replicated by the Trunk Road Operating Companies across the country and the focused response to weather events will continue throughout the winter.

“We have more salt in stock today than we used across the whole of last year and our winter control rooms are monitoring conditions 24/7 ensure the winter fleet are treating and patrolling where and when they are needed.”