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From left, Vijay Kumar, gully tanker driver, councillor Steve Evans, David Onions, highway inspector/winter service supervisor and Kevin Tinsley, Martin Harper and David Hodson, reactive highway maintenance operatives.

Residents in Wolverhampton have been set the challenge of naming a brand new fleet of gritting lorries, which will keep hundreds of miles of roads clear this winter.

Nine DAF snow ploughs and gritters have arrived at the Midlands council in time for winter; last year the crews were called out 43 times, but during the big freeze of 2017/18, which saw the infamous ‘Beast from the East’, gritters were out 98 times in total.

Wolverhampton council said name ideas for each of the lorries should be short and catchy, with a local or general winter gritting theme.

Councillor Steve Evans, cabinet member for city environment, said: “We’ve got a brand new fleet of gritters this year which will help us to keep people safe and the city moving which is our focus every winter.

“We want the public to come up with names for them.  People see the gritters out and about regularly and this is a nice way to connect our residents to the team who are out there keeping everyone safe.”

Name ideas can be sent to communications@wolverhampton.gov.uk or via Twitter using the hashtag #wolvesgrit.

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