DARREN Richardson is spending his fourth Christmas in a row keeping the streets clear of snow and ice.
It’s a hard job – on top of his day job.
“People think we’re just gritters,” said the Batley man.
“Normally I work in the town centres of north Kirklees laying flags.
“We get a phone call at 4am if there’s a grit. I start the grit at 5am and then I do my job from 7am to 4pm.
“This is the fourth year I’ve done this, it means a lot of long days.”
If there’s one thing that would make Darren’s vital job easier, it’s better parking.
His route around Batley takes in narrow residential streets where an awkwardly placed car can hold things up.
“The main problem is parked cars. People don’t think when they are parking up. You get these problems dotted on your routes,” he said.
“It’s a struggle, it can take you five to 10 minutes to get past, or else you have to find an alternative route around it.”
Darren, who works from the council’s depot on Headlands Road in Liversedge, feels the gritters’ efforts are not appreciated by many people.
“Bus drivers give you a bit of recognition but a lot of people think we’re the enemy,” he said.
“They think we can stop it being snowy and icy. People have a go at us but we try our best.
“It’s impossible to get everywhere. People complain and moan but they don’t report a problem – they expect someone else to do it. If you report a problem, we can get resources to it.”
Darren, who completed a two-day NVQ course to become a gritter, also asked other drivers to be considerate.
“You get a lot of people trying to get round you because they don’t want to get stuck behind.
“You’re having to predict what other drivers will do as well as checking the road conditions,” he said.
“I would urge people to be patient and just give us some space.”
Darren asked residents to remember that gritters went out to work when most other people were at home with their families.
“I’m on-call this Christmas, I’ll be on for a week from Friday,” he said.
“Last year when people were having their Christmas dinner, there were people out gritting.
“We put in long hours and it does demoralise us to hear the criticism.
“If we could just see one letter in the paper saying well done to all the lads.”
Kirklees stockpiled 25,000 tonnes of rock salt at its depots in Honley and Liversedge this year.
The council grits more than 700 miles of priority routes, including main roads, bus routes and roads leading to hospitals and other vital services.
Some 93 tonnes of grit are used on each run.
Kirklees also has 1,300 grit bins which contain salt for use on roads and pavements.
