Join us for an evening with Middlesbrough’s gritting team, working hard to keep roads clear and safe during winter weather.
I joined Mark Wilson, a gritting leader, on February 13th. We left around 7:30 PM from Resolution House, and we gritted priority route four, one of five key routes.
Route four goes towards Hemlington and returns through Acklam and Linthorpe. Route one covers the A66, and route five includes Middlehaven and the town center. Mark said the town center is tough on Saturday nights.
Mark usually works a day shift in highways; gritting is a seasonal task for him. The council started gritting October 10th, and the team is ready until mid-April.
They have five gritting routes total. Mark showed me a spare gritter at the depot, saying it’s there if another one breaks down. Plows are ready for any snow.
Mark felt proud to grit Middlesbrough’s streets; some drivers thanked him. He wished others were more polite.
Mark typically starts at 6 AM working highways, trained to drive many vehicles, including cherry-pickers and JCBs. I arrived at 7:30 PM and Mark had already filled the gritters, each holding about 3.5 tonnes of grit, enough to cover about 180 miles of roads in total.
Mark said they might do two or three runs, and sometimes they grit at 4 AM. If they are out late, they don’t return at 6 AM.
That night was a mild frost, so they used 10 grams. For heavy frost or snow, they use 20 grams, and they might reload and repeat the route, potentially using up to 60 grams of grit a night.
They keep 4,000 tonnes of grit for the season and used roughly 17 tonnes that Thursday.
The job needs great driving skills. Mark controlled the grit spread with a panel, allowing him to change the width or stop it. This prevents overlap and wasted grit.
Mark knew his route well and changed the grit width often. He made sure to carefully cover roundabouts, going fully around each roundabout in the outside lane.
He has worked for the council for 40 years and has gritted for 13 years. He said this might be his last year, as they work week on, week off from October to April.
They could grit most roads in one pass, but wider roads require both sides to be gritted. In snow, they plow and then grit one side, repeating on the way back.
If they grit before plowing, the plow picks up the grit, so they think about when they put the grit down.
That night was standard and quick. Daily weather updates at 11 AM help, but the team must react to changing forecasts, sometimes waking up to grit before 4 AM.
Councillor Peter Gavigan spoke on the team’s work, saying the town relies on clear roads. The gritting crews are on the frontline, and they do a fantastic job.