By Graham Gibson, Amey
This winter there will be 40 Amey gritters working around the clock to tackle whatever the north east weather throws their way and help keep Scotland moving.
A new name on Amey’s team sheet will be Den-ice Law, a gritter named in honour of the Scottish football icon, which was chosen as one of the winners of last year’s public naming competition.
Denis, who passed away in January 2025, was born in Aberdeen (where the new gritter will be based) and went on to become one of the world’s greatest goalscorers, most famously for Manchester United, and jointly hold the Scottish international goalscoring record with 30 goals.
Joining Den-ice Law on the pitch (or rather, the roads) will be four other winning names from last year’s competition:
- Clearopathra (Keith depot)
- Thaw: God of Thunder (Nairn depot)
- Miracle on 34th Sleet (Perth depot)
- Shovelly Jubbly (Kinross depot)
The winter service team, which features 40 Econ gritters and 40 snowploughs, as well as 8 footpath gritters, 4 fastracs and 4 snow blowers, will be decked out in their distinctive bright orange livery.
The fleet will be on standby 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week to respond and cover 593km of trunk roads and 151km of footpaths.
Amey’s dedicated Winter Maintenance teams will monitor weather forecasts and road surface temperatures to understand when treatments are required to keep the north east Scotland trunk road network moving over the coming months.
Back of the Net: Gritter Naming Competition Returns
Following the roaring success of last year’s campaign, Amey will be launching the 2025 gritter naming competition later this month. Winter warriors will once again have the chance to submit their best names for the next generation of gritters.
Amey’s Severe Weather Manager Stuart Green said: “The public’s creativity in naming our gritters adds a brilliant sense of fun to a serious job. I’m sure the new names will prove to be fan favourites.
“Our gritter drivers work unsociable hours in bad weather and face all kinds of challenges on the roads, but they do a tremendous job helping to keep Scotland’s trunk road network moving.
“We have highly experienced teams ready who will use the latest weather forecast technology to monitor conditions and respond 24 hours a day throughout the winter period.
“I’d also urge motorists to play their part when the worst of the conditions move in. It is important that commuters think ahead and be prepared for any harsh weather.
“Listen to weather and traffic forecasts, adapt your driving to the conditions and look out for every driver’s welfare while out on the roads.”
The 40 gritters will range from 18-tonne, 26-tonne and 32-tonne vehicles, making them some of the largest in the UK.
In addition to 35,000 tonnes of salt, Amey will have 50,000 litres of potassium acetate and 50,000 litres of magnesium chloride in stock for teams to deliver alternative treatments on roads and paths during the lowest temperatures.
A 9,000-tonne capacity salt barn at Amey’s Kinross depot and a 5,000-tonne salt barn at their Nairn depot will also add increased resilience in tackling adverse weather conditions across the network.
- A free Road Work Alerts service is available from our website. An email address is all that is required to sign up for the service.
- To report a problem on the network please visit: https://netrunkroads.scot/report-a-problem/.
- Real-time journey information can be obtained by visiting www.trafficscotland.org or via X: @TrafficScotland