Innes Scott, now an electrician according to his Facebook Page, has experience of lorry driving having worked for Isle of Lewis haulier Duncan Mackay & Sons Ltd.
Mr Scott also has experience driving gritter lorries, and in light of complaints from the public in recent days about gritting and gritter lorries, he took to social media to defend the work of gritter lorry drivers.
Referring to complaints about gritters people see sliding off the road, not spreading, or only spreading on specific roads, Mr Scott said he’d “heard so much negativity” over the last 24 hours that it was time for him to have a rant.
“I would suggest anyone who wants to have a moan at the gritter drivers should apply for the job themselves and give it a try, can’t be that hard can it? Must be easy enough driving a lorry that doesn’t slide on the ice and carrying a full load of salt behind you incase you get stuck anywhere,” said Mr Scott.
HGV driving in general was arguably almost universally underappreciated until the pandemic, with many members of the public not appreciating the skill, responsibility and dangers associated with the profession.
In his rant, Mr Scott also sought to draw attention to the challenges faced by gritter lorry drivers, which many members of the public often look over:
“THE REAL FACT IS: It’s a hell of a job! The fact that you are spreading the salt behind you means that you are actually driving on untreated roads for your whole run. You should all try driving for a couple of hours on untreated roads before the gritter comes out and see how you all get on!”
Mr Scott then went on to explain what it can be like when a lorry starts sliding:
“Also when a lorry with that weight starts sliding it’s bloody scary! It’s not like a car where you might bounce of a kerb and damage a wheel, imagine sliding towards a house weighing 20 tonne and no way of stopping! So next time you see a gritter not managing to get into your village just think for a second that they may not want to risk their lives or anyone else’s, and maybe that gritter has a more critical road requiring done and has to make a very difficult decision!”
Addressing complaints regarding gritter lorries that aren’t spreading, the former gritter lorry driver added:
“When you see a gritter going past and not spreading, it could be down to a few reasons, but the main one is that a lot of the time that is not the road that gritter has been tasked to do. I used to drive from the salt pile all the way to Gravir before I started spreading, so I actually had enough salt to do the run I was asked to do. Imagine if I left the salt pile in Stornoway and decided to spread on the main road all the way, I wouldn’t have had any salt left to actually do the bit I was meant to do! That’s why you see 3 or 4 gritters on the same road and maybe only one of them is spreading!”
Mr Scott continued:
“I would give any road my very best shot but it’s not always possible, I was 3 days trying to get up the hill to south Gravir one bad winter and felt terrible leaving those people stuck. I finally succeeded and managed to get in very late one evening and thought I was going to get abuse from the people living there, but instead actually got praise for the difficult job we were doing.”
Mr Scott added that those “want to moan about it” should “do a winter behind the wheel” so they can see for themselves how they’d get on.
The Stornoway resident then concluded his rant by paying tribute to the work done by gritter drivers, stressing that the public should show them respect.
“Show them a little respect, don’t park your car in stupid places, and if you are stuck behind one that’s gone off the road, go and thank them for the work they do and offer them support, a cup of tea and a biscuit.”
Photo © Copyright Craig Wallace and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
