Snowcial Distancing and Snowvid-19 among gritters to take to Shropshire roads
Gritty Gritty Bang Bang, Snowcial Distancing and Snowvid-19 will all be taking to the streets of Shropshire to grit the roads this winter.
Following a competition to name the county's gritters, Spreddie Flintoff, David Plowie, Snow Patrol and Snow Be Gone Kenobi will also help keep traffic moving through the festive season.
More than 2,000 votes were cast in the competition to name Shropshire Council's highways fleet of 25 gritters.
The voting opened in October and closed on Wednesday.
With five names already chosen, people were asked to help choose names for the remaining 20 vehicles by voting for their favourites from the final shortlist of 50.
The names were all put forward by members of the public, with more than 750 suggestions made.
Other winning entries included Gritty McGritface; Spready Mercury; Grit the Road Jack; Ready Salted; Walter the Salter; Captain Tom; Slush the Magic Wagon; True Grit; Gritter Thunberg; Usain Salt; Ice Ice Baby; Gritney Spears and Super Spreader.
'Fantastic'
Names already chosen, which didn't go to a public vote, were Zac Oliver, Jack Edwards, Charlie Desmond, The Harry Johnson Trust and Percy Mullaly.
Steve Davenport, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “We asked for people to suggest names for our gritters, and then to vote for their favourites, and we had a fantastic response, with more than 750 suggestions made and over 2,000 votes cast.
"I want to say a big thank you to everyone who suggested a name and all who voted."
Relating to the five names already chosen – Charlie Desmond suffered from muscular dystrophy and passed away five years ago at the age of 15.
Jack Edwards from Cleobury Mortimer passed away four years ago after a battle with leukaemia.
Zac Oliver from Broseley was diagnosed with a rare strain of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in May 2018. An appeal raised £500,000 to send Zac to Philadelphia for life-saving treatment.
The Harry Johnson Trust was established in November 2014 following the death of seven-year-old Harry in July of that year. Harry died following a nine-month fight with Double Hit Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
Percy Mullaly was a much-loved and long-serving car park attendant at Shropshire Council’s Shirehall headquarters. He died earlier this year.
