Sled Zeplin? Gritty-Gritty Bang Bang? Peterborough residents have chance to name new gritting lorries for city

Six new gritting vehicles are joining Peterborough’s fleet to help keep motorists safe this winter – and residents are being given the chance to give them a new name.

Peterborough City Council and Milestone Infrastructure have teamed up to offer residents the chance to name the new 7.5 and 26 tonne vehicles, which will be hitting the city’s roads soon.

Residents are invited to suggest names for the vehicles – entries can be submitted to [email protected] before the deadline of Friday 10 November.

Several councils have asked residents to name their gritting fleet resulting in eye-catching vehicles such as ‘Gritty-Gritty Bang Bang’, ‘Yes Sir Ice Can Boogie’ and ‘Sled Zeplin’.

Winning entries will be chosen from a panel of judges from the council and Milestone and announced next month. The winning entries will also be displayed on each vehicle, along with the name of the entrant.

Councillor Nigel Simons, Peterborough City Council’s Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, Environment and Climate Change said: “We’re very excited to get these new gritters and thought it would be a great opportunity to invite our residents to name them. We’ve previously got residents to name our refuse vehicles which generated several brilliant ideas and resulted in Marcus Trashford and Simon Le Bin to name just two! We look forward to seeing some equally innovate entries.”

Gary Williams, Business Director Milestone Infrastructure said: “This year marks the arrival of a new fleet of gritters to ensure we are resilient and able to respond to maintain a safe network during cold conditions. The associated efficiencies of new fleet also bring reduced carbon in addition to the reduction already delivered through using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO).”

The council stores 3,500 tonnes of salt at its contractor's depot at the beginning of the season and replenishes stocks as the season progresses.

The weather is checked every day between 1 October and 30 April, to determine whether gritting is required. Gritting usually takes place late at night or very early in the morning and is timed to ensure the whole network is treated before road surface temperatures fall below zero.

As a rule, the latest treatments of the precautionary network to ensure full coverage before rush hour is 4am.