Last night the Scottish Government insisted quantities of salt and grit were sufficient to deal with the prolonged cold snap, and that arrangements put in place over the festive period had ensured supply was available where needed.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said: “There continues to be a substantial supply of salt and grit available across Scotland – with stocks currently standing at well over 40,000 tonnes – but of course we recognise that there are pinch points in different parts of the country, and we are working as hard as possible to alleviate any difficulties.”
Concerns about gritting supplies were sparked by officials at Fife Council over the weekend.
Yesterday, its supplies ran out before a delivery of 250 tonnes of salt arrived in the afternoon, ensuring gritting of priority roads could continue. Fife’s salt supplier was also due to deliver additional supplies today as part of the existing contract.
Councillor Tony Martin said: “We’re back on track and the gritting of priority roads can continue.
“The Scottish Government has stepped in and helped secure the delivery for Fife, and work is under way to co-ordinate the supply across the country. It’s a really positive step forward for Fife, and councils up and down the country, as we face unprecedented and prolonged periods of low temperature.”
In Aberdeenshire, a spokeswoman for the local authority said stocks were “extremely low” but that a delivery of 5000 tonnes of salt was imminent.
Renfrewshire Council said it was prioritising gritting main routes to conserve its stocks of salt and that secondary routes may be more dangerous than usual. However, it said it was expecting another delivery of salt today.
Highland Council said it had 10,000 tonnes of salt and was expecting more to arrive today.
Edinburgh City Council said it had a few hundred tonnes of grit and salt left but was expecting another delivery yesterday or today, either by road or by sea via Rosyth. Glasgow City Council claimed it was “confident” it had enough supplies of salt.
Dockers and road maintenance staff have been working through their holidays in a desperate bid to help Scotland beat gridlock by unloading emergency supplies of salt.
Crew aboard the Sea Ruby supply vessel sailed through the night on an 18-hour journey to bring a fresh supply of 2000 tonnes of salt to Edinburgh’s Port of Leith yesterday.
Workers immediately began unloading the cargo – as temperatures plunged to minus 10 in places – on to waiting trucks to help get supplies out to fleets of gritters across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
But with stocks only expected to last a few days, another shipment is already on standby to be sailed north, because trucks cannot cope with the treacherous road conditions.
Meanwhile, road workers told how the snow and slush is so heavy that they have been forced to leave side streets and housing estates, focusing on gritting the main roads throughout the day.
Stuart Russell, 45, a driver with West Lothian Council’s road maintenance unit, said: “The public don’t realise that we keep having to redo the main roads from morning to night, so the side roads and estates haven’t been getting done. We start at 8am and finish at 11pm, seven days a week, and we’ve been working flat out.
“By the time you’re done it’s home and then straight out in the morning again. We were out on Christmas Day – we never got any Christmas. I’ve not got to see my kids over Christmas. Our holidays got cancelled.”
Pat Watters, president of the local authority body Cosla, said it was “a difficult period for the whole country” and praised council workers for their efforts to keep roads open.
“What we are seeing and having to deal with is the longest cold snap in Scotland for decades and I pay tribute to the work that has already been done by council staff,” he said.
Meanwhile, services between Glasgow and Edinburgh were reduced to half-hourly yesterday as freezing temperatures caused continuing disruption to Scotland’s rail network.
The problems were compounded by a strike taken by Virgin Trains ticketing staff at stations along the West Coast Main Line.
Some services on the Strathclyde suburban rail network were also cancelled due to cold temperatures.
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