Emergency rotas have been drawn up to ensure roads remain gritted, with the highways depot in Seacroft currently going through a staggering 320 tons of grit every day.

If the wintry weather continues, the city's three highways depots could run out of grit – and Leeds City Council said last night that, from today, only major roads will be treated.

With councils across the country scrambling for supplies, the shortage is a real concern for Seacroft group leader Graham Hopson, 53.

"I'd say we have around 1,000 tons left, and we probably go through around 80 tons per shift," he said. "At the moment, we're doing four shifts a day, so if the weather keeps up, we'll be struggling. We can order more from the quarries, but everyone is doing that at the moment.
"It's been an extremely busy three weeks and we will almost certainly go through more grit this winter than we did during the entire of last winter.

"It's probably going to be the busiest season for around a decade. It's unusual, because the worst weather is usually in February or March.
"I've been doing this job for 38 years now and I've never known the weather to be this bad over Christmas and into the New Year."

At the Seacroft depot, 12 drivers can complete 12 routes at any one time, covering 40 miles every hour and spreading up to eight tons of grit.

As well as ensuring the road surfaces are covered, the trucks are equipped with snow ploughs, while workers also have the unenviable task of refilling grit bins and treating "prestige footpaths" around schools, hospitals and shopping centres.

State-of-the-art technology, including "weather cameras" on the main roads, feeds information to the depots on an hourly basis, providing statistics such as temperature, predicted snowfall and the amount of salt on the road.

As well as "taking their lives into their hands" at the wheel of their trucks, drivers like Dave Hagar, 46, face a host of other challenges.
"A gritter is just a big car and we face the same difficulties as everyone else, skidding and sliding on the roads," he said.

"Drivers don't want to be showered in grit but they don't always want to pull over either. Abandoned cars can be a problem, and we sometimes get asked whether we can grit people's paths and driveways, but we can't because then we'd have to do it for everybody.

Only major Leeds roads to be gritted

"It's a challenging job but it's just one part of what the highways maintenance team does over the course of a year. You get used to it."
"Some people think that gritting is some kind of miracle cure for the roads, but it's not," added Mr Hopson. "You spread the grit, then the cars drive over it, then the salt starts to react and gets to work on stablising the surfaces. It's not instantaneous.

"The lads take their lives into their own hands every time they go out. The trucks may be big, but they still slip and slide in the ice.

"They do a great job and come out at all hours to make sure the roads are gritted, driving here themselves along untreated roads."

Leeds City Council has said that more grit will be delivered next week to the three depots in Seacroft, Hunslet and Yeadon.

But with supplies now running at a critically low level, the question has to be asked – was Leeds City Council fully prepared for the cold snap?

"We were prepared as much as we possibly could be," said Mr Hopson. "All the grit is delivered in the summer, and there's no way of knowing how exactly how bad the winter is going to be.

"Everybody wants it to snow, and when it comes, it's nice for a couple of days. It all looks pretty but by the end of it, even the drivers are fed up. You have to be careful what you wish for."

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Economy catches a cold
Concern was mounting today over the impact of the big freeze on Yorkshire's economy.

Experts estimate the chill could cost the UK more than £5bn if, as feared, it drags on for another week.

And the effect of lost orders and missed working hours is biting particularly hard in big cities like Leeds.

The Federation of Small Businesses has already said a single day's absenteeism on the scale seen this week could have cost the local economy as much as £8m.

Now Ian Williams, director of policy at Leeds Chamber of Commerce, has warned the weather woes have come at a time when many retailers are already feeling the pinch. He said: "January is always a little flat so in that respect they will be suffering a double whammy."

The hotel trade is among those counting the cost of the wintry blasts. Leeds Hotels Association manager Deborah Hindley says there has been a "significant" drop in the number of people attending conferences and other events in the city.

A performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Carriageworks theatre in Leeds, meanwhile, attracted just NINE people.

But the snow hasn't hit everyone in the pocket – Leeds-based supermarket chain Asda says its sales of wellington boots have soared by 34 per cent.

Other items flying off the shelves include bags of grit (up 32 per cent), fire logs (71 per cent) and vacuum flasks (129 per cent).

There is also good news for residents in the Hanging Heaton and Shaw Cross areas of Batley who were left without gas when a supply main flooded on New Year's Eve.

Northern Gas Networks said it was hopeful all 450 affected properties would be reconnected by today.

Elsewhere, more than 100 residents were evacuated from their Cherry Court block of flats in Burmantofts, Leeds, following a gas leak on Wednesday.

Yesterday they were still waiting to return to their homes.
On public transport, East Coast Main Line trains between Leeds and London Kings Cross faced delays yesterday of up to 60 minutes because of signalling problems and speed limits. Most bus journeys were still restricted to main roads while departure times at Leeds Bradford Airport were disrupted.

Around 120 schools in West Yorkshire were closed. Some bin collections resumed in Leeds yesterday, with 14 of the normal 50 crews out and about.

Temperatures in the city are tonight expected to fall to minus 6C (21F).
Forecasters say there is a risk of further snow over the weekend and on Monday.

All sports pitches managed by Leeds City Council will be out of action this weekend.

Leeds United are confident their home game on Saturday against Wycombe Wanderers will go ahead, although fans should leave extra time for parking.

Only patients with appointments for urgent medical problems, such as essential cancer or kidney dialysis treatment, will be collected by the Patient Transport Service today and over the weekend.