EAST Lancashire's road bosses say they are braced for winter with mountains of grit and salt stockpiled.

The gritting lorries took their first journeys out into the cold last week as forecasters predicted temperatures plummeting to freezing point or below on Bonfire Night.

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Blackburn with Darwen's eight gritting lorries, all of which have optional snow ploughs, were out on Thursday night.

Lancashire County Council deployed some of their fleet of 49 specialist vehicles on Wednesday on hilly roads, including some in Pendle and Ribble Valley.

The two local authorities have 33,000 tonnes of grit and salt stockpiled and access to other supplies in case of a severe winter.

County council highways boss John Fillis said: "Highly-trained crews will be using the latest technology and have more than 30,000 tonnes of salt ready to keep Lancashire moving.

"We look after 4,300 miles of road, a third of which are priority routes and are gritted first whenever a freeze is forecast.

"We also grit other secondary routes in snowy conditions. However, it's impossible to grit every road.

"Just because a road has been gritted, it may not be clear of ice and people should take extra care."

Blackburn with Darwen highways boss Jim Smith said: "Winter is coming and we are taking steps to ensure that we are prepared for what the following months may bring.

"The council has eight gritters to which snow ploughs can be attached if required. We also have a snow blower.

"Approximately 2,000 tonnes of salt are spread on the borough's roads during the average winter. We have a stockpile of 3,000 tonnes.

"There are 340 miles of roads within the borough and 165 are included on main gritting routes.

"There are four principal and four non-principal gritting routes within the borough.

"The principal routes include all of the main roads, those with hospitals, fire stations and police stations along with main bus routes.

"These eight routes are always salted when wintry hazards are forecast.

"As well as the eight main routes, there are three high level gritting routes.

"For roads not included on the main gritting routes, 350 salt bins are provided."