The council sent out nearly 60 gritters to salt the roads this morning as the county is set to be hit with further snow fall this week.

When icy weather or snow is predicted Hertfordshire County Council tackles primary routes first including major bus routes and one road in and out of each village.

Once they have cleared the primary routes, the gritters then start on secondary routes such as steep roads in residential areas or rural roads with poor drainage.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Hertfordshire County Council’s winter maintenance service is carried out by our contractor, Ringway. Crews are on 24hour standby during the winter season which runs from the start of October to the end of April.

“We are fully prepared for gritting in the face of the present winter weather predictions and we have enough salt stocks for this unseasonably cold weather with additional stocks on order.

“The council’s Winter Duty Officers will continue to monitor the weather during this period and our gritter’s which have been out today and will remain on standby to ensure our roads are treated as necessary.”

To find out more about the council’s salting routes, visit www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/winterroads or follow the updates on twitter with the hashtag #grittertwitter