Search for names as Gritney Spears is brushed away...
NICOLE SALTSLINGER GRITS ON, BUT CHILDREN ASKED TO COME UP WITH NEW NAMES
GRITNEY Spears is being retired... but Nicole Saltslinger lives to grit another day.
Town hall bosses in Oldham are retiring eight of their imaginativelynamed gritter trucks – and are asking people to come up with aliases for the new fleet.
After years of service Freddie Salted, Grittersaurus, Goliath, Walter the Salter, Gritterbug, Gritney Spears, Gritinator and Thor are all being sent to the big depot in the sky.
It is estimated they have clocked up more than 1.2 million miles and put down more than 20,000 tonnes of salt between them.
They got their nicknames after the council asked school children to come up with monikers for the trucks, and were overwhelmed by an avalanche of ingenious suggestions.
Now they are asking young people to do the same again with the seven new trucks they are hiring to join Nicole – who is named after the X-Factor judge and is ‘a favourite with residents and the gritterati.’
Once the winning entries have been chosen, each gritter will have its new name branded on the front of the cab.
The competition is open to all school children aged 16 and under who either live in Oldham or attend a school in the borough.
The closing date for entries is Sunday, October 22.
Councillor Fida Hussain, cabinet member for environmental services, said: “Over the years our fleet of gritters have provided a great service to the people of Oldham.
“But due to wear and tear the time has come to replace them so they, and their drivers, can continue to play a vital role in helping to keep the borough moving during cold spells.
“Every time we’ve run a similar competition it has been well received by members of the public. Last year from a single tweet more than 70,000 people engaged with us in one way or another and some of the suggestions we had were fantastic. We took the silly suggestions with a pinch of salt.”
To suggest a name visit oldham. gov.uk/nameagritter.
Over the winter the council website will be kept updated with news on school closures, gritting routes, locations of grit bins and grit sales.
Visit oldham.gov.uk/winter for more information. Alternatively you can follow @oldhamalert or @oldhamcouncil on Twitter.