Late gritting over winter period leaves Larne on skid row

Councillor Winston Fulton said: “For the past number of years I have complained to the Department of the Environment Roads Service in the Larne area about the poor services concerned with the gritting of roads when there is snow and ice.

“But this year it has just been the same old story.”

This came after wintery weather hit the Larne area the week previously.

The councillor claimed that while he was driving on the roads early in the morning, they had not been gritted, even though he said the snow and ice had been predicted by the Met Office days in advance.

The councillor said that this should have given the Roads Service enough time to prepare for the situation, and to have the roads gritted.

He said that he had driven on roads in Carrickfergus, Newtownabbey and Belfast on the same morning in question and that roads in these areas had been gritted.

He asked if the Department of the Environment in Larne were not paying their men to do the work, or were there not enough men to carry out the work in the region.