MORE gritters than ever before will be available this winter to spread salt and plough snow across Scotland's trunk road network.

There will be 205 gritter lorries available across the country, including 57 brand new state-of-the-art vehicles purchased in recent months to update the fleet.

It comes as forecasters predicted that Britain could be blasted by the worst winter in half a century, with sub-zero temperatures and snowfalls expected in early November.

The Scottish Government confirmed that salt stocks are also in good supply and all available gritting vehicles will be deployed on motorways and trunk roads whenever needed to keep traffic flowing.

Transport Minister Derek Mackay gave assurances that the copuntry's infrastructure was "prepared for the worst" as he visited the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, where two super gritters are on display until Friday.

He said: “We are doing all we can to try to mitigate the impact of whatever the weather can throw at us with more new gritters on our trunk roads. These are state of the art vehicles that can spread even more salt. This represents a strengthened fleet, with greater capacity and high levels of equipment and grit in stock."

James Madden, forecaster for Exacta Weather, said: “It is likely to turn significantly colder from mid October onwards.

"This is likely to bring the first significant snow of winter above higher ground in parts of Scotland and potentially to some well-elevated parts of Northern Ireland."