Lincolnshire County Council pray for a safe winter
The UK’s leading local authority fleet service provider, TransLinc, has supported Lincolnshire County Council’s (LCC) annual blessing of its 48-vehicle gritting fleet that took place on Monday 1st December 2008.
During a special event at the Sturton-by-Stow highway depot, the Bishop of Lincoln, the Right Reverend John Saxbee read prayers and met the staff of the salt and highway teams. Simultaneous ceremonies took place at each of Lincolnshire’s highways depots.
TransLinc has provided the LCC winter maintenance fleet, on a contract hire with maintenance agreement, for over 30 years, regularly supplying the latest technology to keep the county moving. In 2007 TransLinc provided 11 GPS guided gritting vehicles to LCC on trial to assist the fleet in reducing operating costs, to demonstrate the county’s strict environmental compliance and its duty of care requirements.
LCC’s winter maintenance fleet treats 43 priority network routes using a dedicated fleet of 43 vehicles (and five spares) and salts 1862 miles of highway each icy night. As part of this process, all A and B roads are salted.
The annual blessing ceremony took place in freezing temperatures as Lincolnshire County Council continued its winter gritting programme and, together with the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, advised motorists to only travel if essential in extreme conditions. The blessing was proclaimed on the employees who go out with the gritters to make the county’s roads safer over winter and over their gritting lorries.
David Davies, Principal Maintenance Engineer for Lincolnshire County Council Highways, said: “We were pleased to host the blessings at our Highways depots again this year. It highlights the need for motorists to drive carefully during the winter period and is a reminder to road users about the vitally important work carried out by Lincolnshire County Council and Highways Agency gritter crews throughout the county.”
Dave Overton, Regional Sales Manager for TransLinc said: “We have been supporting LCC’s gritter blessing ceremony for several years. It is a great opportunity to bring the community together and gives recognition to the teams who work tirelessly throughout the winter to ensure the county is kept moving. It is also a chance to promote safe driving in the county throughout the winter months.”
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