School pupils are 'snow' joke when it comes to picking gritter names

Oldham gritters named

The winners of the ‘Name a Gritter’ competition are Evie and Alice Hobson, Heidi Malinowski, Eryn Middleton, Frederic Oldham, Sam Caunce, Nicole Delaney and Adam Saville.

School children from across the borough were asked to come up with fitting names for the seven new additions to the Council's gritting fleet.

The winning names are: 

• Winston Churchill (Evie and Alice Hobson)
• Brad Grit (Heidi Malinowski)
• Gritiana Grande (Eryn Middleton)
• Snowbee One Kenobi (Frederic Oldham)
• Nick Gritshaw (Sam Caunce)
• Leonardo de-ice-io (Nicole Delaney)
• Basil Salty (Adam Saville)

The gritters have now been branded with the winning names on the front of the cabs and as soon as the cold weather starts residents will be able to look out for the vehicles as they travel around the borough spreading grit and salt.

They will now join Nicole Saltslinger – a favourite with residents and the ‘gritterarati’ - helping to keep roads free of ice and snow.

Councillor Fida Hussain, Cabinet Member for Environment Services, said: “We would like to thank these seven youngsters for coming up with such great names.

“We are delighted with how well the competition took off and it has been really well received. As in the past it was intended as a bit of fun and it has really captured the imagination of our young people, including every member of one school class entering.

“More than 45,000 people engaged with us in one way or another.

“Here in Oldham we are usually hit quite hard when the snow and ice begins but we have an excellent team who work tirelessly to keep the roads clear and the borough moving.

“Our gritters play a vital role in that so we can have a bit of fun running competitions like this whilst teaching young people about road safety.”