Home   News   Article

Bear Scotland defends A9 gritting after Highland motorists complain of icy conditions in Ross-shire


By Philip Murray

Easier access to your trusted, local news. Subscribe to a digital package and support local news publishing.



Click here to sign up to our free newsletters!
One of the Bear Scotland gritters ready to tackle the Highland's trunk roads this winter.
One of the Bear Scotland gritters ready to tackle the Highland's trunk roads this winter.

GRITTERS spread more than 100 tonnes of salt on the A9 north of the Black Isle in a little over 24 hours, the company behind the trunk road's maintenance has stressed after complaints over icy conditions.

Bear Scotland was responding after reports of some vehicles leaving the road on the A9 between Tain and Invergordon on Monday morning, amid active warnings from both the Met Office and police at the time.

Freezing weather, night-time rain and a further freeze left some Highland roads in a treacherous condition on Monday.

At the time, police issued a plea for motorists to take added care following reports of "a number of collisions" in the region. It was the second such police appeal in the space of just four days.

Bear Scotland, which maintains the A9, has now moved to quash fears the trunk road had not been sufficiently gritted.

Speaking last night, a spokesman said: “Teams have been working round the clock to deal with this most recent cold spell of winter weather across Scotland, including on the A9 near Sutherland.

“In the past 24-hours we have had four salt spreaders dedicated to keeping this section of the route clear – three from our Dunbeath depot and one from our Inverness depot."

They added that between 3pm on Sunday and 5.30pm on Monday "the A9 between Tore Roundabout and Thurso received six salt treatments, with over 110 tonnes of de-icing material used".

"We also had a dedicated patrol gritter monitoring the route from midnight until 9am [on Monday morning] carrying out additional top-up treatments as required."

They added that on Monday night they had a further six treatments planned, that the patrol spreader was also assisting overnight, and Bear Scotland's 24/7 control room team also monitored conditions on the A9 and the rest of the trunk road network.

The spokesman continued: “During winter we encourage all road users to take extra care when out by ensuring their vehicle is prepared for winter weather, leaving extra time to reach their destination and making sure drive to conditions at all times.”

Bear Scotland gritters can be tracked through Traffic Scotland’s online gritter tracker which displays real-time location and gritting info across Scotland, available here: https://bit.ly/TSGritterMap.

Related news: Spate of collisions spark police ice warning for motorists


Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More