Rennie Mackintosh shows some grit...

Comedic names for vehicles have been revealed

THERE are many modern tributes to Charles Rennie Mackintosh – but this is maybe one of the most unique.

An appeal to name the 50-strong fleet of gritters covering 400 miles of Scotland’s trunk roads received more than 1200 online entries.

And the first of the successful nominations are revealed today.

Charles RennIce MackinSlush is the first of the new gritter names to be announced – and who knows what its namesake would make of the choice.

Gritters plough their routes from Glasgow to Dumfries and through to

Ayr and Stranraer, and giving the machinery comedic names has become a new winter tradition.

Mr MackinSlush will join existing gritters on the network including Yes Sir, Ice Can Boogie, Buzz IceClear, and IRN-BRU®’s Grits You Thru.

Other successful entrants will be posted on the @ SWTrunkRoads Twitter account each day in the coming weeks.

The naming appeal, which is normally run in conjunction with local schools, was moved online this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and opened to the wider Scottish public.

Many of the names submitted paid tribute to the recent passing of James Bond actor and Scottish icon Sir Sean Connery, and as a result five of the newly named vehicles will be badged with references to Sir Sean and several of the Bond movies.

These are Dr Snow, Coldfinger,

You Only Grit Ice, On Her Majesty’s Slippery Surface and TroonRaker.

The newly named gritters will be operated by Amey, the company responsible for maintaining the Scottish South-West trunk road network on behalf of Transport Scotland.

The appeal ran from December 23, 2020, until January 15, 2021, attracting a record number of submissions.

To support the travelling public, a free Winter Road Alerts service is available, providing real-time updates on weather-related incidents on the network.

An email address is all that is required to sign up for this service: www.swtrunkroads. scot/roadwork-alerts/

To report a problem on the network go to www.swtrunkroads.scot/report-a-problem/

Real-time journey information can be obtained by visiting www.trafficscotland .org or via Twitter: @TrafficScotland