Use of agency gritters spiked during cold snap

A CONSEQUENCE of last year's severe cold snap was a huge jump in the number of private agency drivers being employed by Roads Service to grit the roads in Londonderry and across the Northern Division.

By The Newsroom

Published 3rd Jan 2011, 15:19 BST

The cost of gritting the roads during severe weather in the Northern Division over the last three years was 237,050.

But the number of agency drivers shot up from 5 in 2007/8 to 9 in 2008/9 to 43 in 2009/10 - largely as a consequence of the extreme cold snap we experienced in the latter year.

Roads Minister Conor Murphy explained:

"My Department's Roads Service supplements its in-house drivers with drivers sourced through an external contract, to deliver its Winter Gritting Service.

"This contract is awarded through a competitive tendering process to ensure value for money."

Conor Murphy