Winter visit for local nursery

Local children from Stanecastle Nursery, Irvine met with frontline operatives last week (17 March) to find out more about how they help keep road users moving in even the harshest winter conditions.

Scotland TranServ, which manages and maintains Ayrshire’s trunk roads including A76, A77, A78, A738 and A737 visited the nursery as part of a ‘People who help us’ learning topic which aims to teach the children about people who carry out important roles to protect and assist the public.

Children discovered how gritters are deployed to treat roads and help keep them clear of snow and ice during winter weather. They also got up close to a 15 tonne ‘Super Gritter’ to see how the vehicles treat roads across the area.

Debbie Carchrie, Head Teacher at Stanecastle Nursery said:

“We are delighted that Scotland TranServ visited our nursery as part of a ‘People who help us’ project where the children have been learning about vocations that help us in our day to day lives.

“The children really enjoyed learning about how the gritters work and what operatives do to keep Ayrshire moving in periods of severe weather.”

Over 260km of roads are maintained in Ayrshire by Scotland TranServ, which carries out its winter service between 1 October and 15 May each year.

Andy Fraser, operating company representative for Scotland TranServ said:

“Our fleet of 48 gritters play a vital role in helping to keep roads across Ayrshire and south west Scotland moving during winter weather. Although this winter has been less onerous than recent winters, we have been busy battling some of the wildest storms, carrying out 1,240 treatments and spreading over 10,000 tonnes of salt so far this winter.

“We hope that the children gained some knowledge of our operations from this visit and how we help to keep roads safe for their families and friends traveling on local roads each winter.”

Scotland TranServ is committed to working within the local communities in which we live, visit and work to leave a lasting legacy of roads fit for the future