New Bear Gritter Named By Milnathort Primary School

Milnathort Primary School pupils have won a competition to name Bear Scotland's new Gritter.

The winning name, For Your Ice Only, was submitted by Primary 2 pupil Rosie White, and was unveiled in front of the school.

The 32 tonne, eight-wheeler vehicle – one of the largest in the UK – will be spotted this winter treating the M90 between Perth and Kinross. For Your Ice Only will now join the likes of Sir Andy Flurry, Gritty Gritty Bang Bang, Plougher O'Scotland and Sir Grits-a-lot and the rest of the 40-strong fleet of winter vehicles in helping to keep the trunk roads in the north east of Scotland free of ice and snow this winter.

The competition was launched after the enthusiasm shown by the pupils at Milnathort Primary School towards Transport Scotland's interactive gritter map, which highlights the location of winter vehicles across trunk roads in Scotland. The school became engaged with the names of the gritters and learning about BEAR's winter activities online.


BEAR Scotland's winter service officially began on Monday 01 October, with teams now on stand-by until the end of the winter season in mid-May next year. Teams in BEAR's control room will be monitoring conditions across all trunk roads in the north east and north west of the country to help coordinate winter activity where required.

BEAR Scotland's Senior Operations Manager for the North East, Alasdair Allen, said: "We were so impressed with the interest in our winter service shown by Milnathort Primary School, and we are delighted to unveil the brilliantly named 'For Your Ice Only' today at the school.

"The pupils came up with some excellent suggestions for new names for the vehicle after learning about how the gritters work to keep roads safe across Scotland during winter, and it's great to see them so engaged with the trunk road gritter tracker map online.

"Our winter period officially started on Monday, so the pupils will be able to spot For Your Ice Only out treating the M90 when the weather is colder working hard to keep road users safe.”

Sandra McColgan, Headteacher at Milnathort Primary School, said: "Last session P1/2 were totally motivated following the interactive gritter map as they were beginning to look at mapping and being able to recognise where Milnathort was on the map of Scotland as well as discussing the weather and the added bonus of the gritter names hooked them in!  

"We were delighted when BEAR Scotland started to notice our enthusiasm for the map and their fleet of gritters via twitter and we're thrilled to be chosen to name one of their vehicles. We will be following the interactive map even closer this year now that we have a personal interest."