True grit

The winter maintenance season started on 26 October and runs until 11 April. Five members of staff will be using three gritting lorries, a pickup and a JCB to make sure the grit gets spread when and where it's most needed. They'll be helped out by the Streets and Parks teams.

When snow is imminent the lorry crews are likely to be out, starting in the early hours and continuing through the night. Five other crews will be spreading grit by hand in priority areas. This includes health centres and doctors' surgeries, footpaths and the city centre.

The crews will also deal with calls from the public who identify problem areas and make sure that the 135 grit bins in Oxford are replenished.

Cllr Nigel Chapman, Board Member for Customer Focused Services said: "While most of the city is tucked up in bed keeping warm on winter nights, our crews are out making sure our roads are kept ice-free so that we can all have trouble-free travel the next day. We start the season with a stock of 900 tonnes of salt. We currently have about 779 tonnes, with another 200 tonnes due for delivery. But we can't grit everywhere so I urge everyone to take care when driving or walking in freezing conditions."

For more on winter gritting visit the winter road gritting page.