Gritter hit by snowball attack (From The Northern Echo)

Gritter hit by snowball attack

2:51pm Monday 6th February 2012 in York & Harrogate News

VANDALS put a road gritter out of action just when it was needed the most.

In a snowball attack this morning, they smashed a window on the machine just as the fleet was trying to keep rush-hour traffic on the move.

The incident occurred in the Manor Park Drive area of York and has been reported to police who are investigating.

Although the damage was only expected to cost a few hundreds pounds to put right it will mean the machine is out of action for most of the day.

Local councillor Dafydd Williams said: “Everyone’s been enjoying the snow in York this weekend and we don’t want people to stop enjoying themselves - but this is taking snowballing to the extreme.

“We don’t know if the person who threw the snowball meant to damage the vehicle, but because the snow has frozen over-night and turned to ice, when it’s thrown it can cause some serious damage.”

He added: “All we’re asking is for people to think twice and don’t throw things at our gritters. After all, our fleet of gritters are here there to help residents and we can’t do that when they are off the road.”