'Where were the gritters?' Furious drivers hit out as sleet catches Wolverhampton council off guard
Icy conditions on Wolverhampton's roads have resulted in major disruption, with frustrated drivers raising questions about the lack of grit.
A flood of angry posts were aimed at Wolverhampton council – with many residents claiming there was a severe lack of grit put down in their areas overnight.
Several accidents have been reported including one in Trysull Road which has partially blocked the road at Marnel Drive.
The council defended its gritting plan, saying that an early morning sleet shower had caught them off guard and that the gritting strategy had been based on forecasted conditions.
"The council's gritting crews went out following rush hour last night and gritted the normal priority routes between 6pm and 9.30pm; the priority routes equate to around 50% of the network or 450km of the city's roads (the council cannot physically grit any more, though grit bins are available to use on side roads and cul-de-sacs). For details of which roads are gritted, please click http://socsi.in/rPRjG.
The gritting programme was based on the forecasted conditions and those observed through the night. Temperatures overnight were generally above freezing and the roads were moving well in the early hours.
However, there was a sleet shower followed by a very sharp drop in temperatures between 5am-6am which left some icy conditions. Unfortunately, the timing of this did not give the gritting teams an opportunity to grit the complete road network in time for this morning's rush hour as it takes four hours to mobilise and complete a gritting run.
Gritters have been out this morning and conditions are improving - the grit works when vehicles pass over it and crush it, so it needs cars on the network for it to be effective.
Gritting will be carried out over the weekend as required due to cold temperatures which are forecasted, and which are predicted to be low for the foreseeable future.
As always, people are urged to take extra care in freezing conditions.
Dudley Council and Sandwell Council came received less criticism than Wolverhampton, although not everyone was happy.
