MOTORISTS will be grateful for Freddy Salted, Gritter Garbo and Salt Disney for clearing their way this winter.

These are just some of the great names dreamt up for East Sussex County Council’s fleet of gritters by comedians young and old across the county.

The announcement of 18 new names for the county’s fleet comes as councils make plans for the winter while the sun still shines brightly. Temperatures have hit 20C this week but West Sussex County Council’s fleet of 25 gritting lorries were out on the streets during the driest September since records began.

Brighton and Hove City Council has prepared its plan for tackling inclement weather this winter. The plan is due to be rubber stamped on Tuesday.

Last year, 230 tonnes of salt were used in Brighton and Hove – even though there was no snow.

City officials said their strategy for dealing with heavy snowfall in previous years had been largely successful but added that there were some “difficulties encountered when ploughing on steep, cambered city roads”.

This year, the council will continue to use seven gritting lorries and grit nearly 192 miles, including all main roads and bus routes, equivalent to almost half the city’s road network.

In the plan for this year’s winter highways service, executive director for environment Christina Liassides said: “This enables us to direct our available resources to keeping strategic links treated all across the city.

“Ploughing is a difficult task within the city due to a number of factors, such as roads having steep cambers, speed-calming measures and tight corners.

“Cars may also block gritting routes, as the plough increases the width of the gritter. Nonetheless, all gritters plough in deep snowfall as well as treat with a salt/grit mix.”

West Sussex County Council’s contractors Balfour Beatty use a dry run – called Operation Snowflake – to test out machinery every September, but do not use any salt.

The county council said the test run was “essential preparation to help the county council keep main roads, approaches to hospitals, approaches to schools and colleges, and busy bus routes safe once the weather takes a turn for the worse.”

Councillor Pieter Montyn, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “There are always changes every winter to consider – for example this year the Haywards Heath Relief Road has to be added – so Operation Snowflake is the perfect way to get everyone ready before we do it for real.”

This year, each driver has been given a key fob fitted with a Masternaut GPS vehicle tracker. This will monitor the driver’s speed and pinpoint where each gritter is on a map, in case of emergencies or breakdowns.

East Sussex gritter fleet’s chosen names:

Cold as Ice – suggested by Maya, Class 1LB, St Paul’s CE Primary School, Hastings

Alicia Freeze – Class 1LB, St Paul’s CE Primary School, Hastings

Snow White and the Slippery Road – Class 1LB, St Paul’s CE Primary School, Hastings

Snow Hero – Isabelle Chesson YR4, Harlands Primary School, Uckfield

Freddy Salted – Annabel Whyte and Caitlin Tizzard, Harlands Primary School, Uckfield

Sultan Vinegar – Magpies Class, Harlands Primary School,

Uckfield Gritter Garbo – Mrs Denton, Ocklynge Junior School, Eastbourne

Saltesers – Tadiwa Musarurwa, 6RB, Ocklynge Junior School, Eastbourne

CTRL + SALT + DELETE – Stanley Wilson, 6M, Ocklynge Junior School, Eastbourne

True Gritt, Gritt Lightning, Gritt me baby one more time and Sir Salter Raleigh – All from Eva and Cassian Robinson, Ditchling Primary School

Slurry Potter, Snow Direction, Salt Disney and Gritters Got Talent – All from the Kittiwakes Breakfast and After School Club at Cradle Hill CP School, Seaford

Dustin Timberlake – East Sussex Highways