True grit keeps traffic flowing across Islington

Islington Council’s gritting teams treated enough road surfaces to cover the distance between John O’Groats and Land’s End three times this winter.

Around 2,600 miles of roads were gritted over the council’s winter service programme, which runs from October to March.

Priority routes running through the borough were gritted 16 times during cold snaps, and the council’s gritters sprinkled 380 tonnes of salt – enough to fill a 25m swimming pool - across the borough’s transport network.

In total the roads were gritted three times more often than the previous winter, when only 75 tonnes of salt was used.

According to the Met Office the 2014/15 winter was the sunniest since 1929, with some parts of eastern England and eastern Scotland receiving 50 per cent more sun than average.

Bram Kainth, Islington Council’s director of public realm, said: “Once again, this winter our gritting teams have been out in Islington, keeping priority routes open for residents and visitors.

“Although we had some snow at the end of January it was nothing exceptional, and overall it’s been a mild winter, though our teams would be ready to go out again if there was an unexpected and unseasonal late cold spell.”

The council’s winter service programme runs during the coldest months of the year.

This season the council used the Met Office’s new Open Road London forecasting system which provides statistical weather data on an hourly basis, which helped decision-making, and saved money by helping to eliminate unnecessary road treatments on warmer nights.