Lancashire County Council
Casual Highways Operative - Skilled
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| Salary £13.45 per hour | Casual hours | Casual Highways Operative | Cuerden Mill Depot
We are currently looking for additional drivers to support the delivery of our winter gritting service for the coming 2026/27 season.
Our winter maintenance standby arrangements operate from mid-October through to the end of April, with the majority of activity taking place during December, January, and February. Drivers are placed on a 12-hour standby shift pattern, predominantly covering evening operations. Most precautionary gritting routes take approximately three hours to complete, although during significant snowfall events drivers may be required for the full 12-hour standby period.
We require anyone interested to hold a valid Class 2 licence, all additional winter driver training would be provided by ourselves.
For information, I have attached an example rota and supporting information to provide an overview of how the standby arrangements operate.
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Standby duties are generally undertaken on a one-week-in-three rotation. However, driving requirements are dependent upon forecasted winter maintenance decisions, so there is no guarantee of the number of hours worked. During their standby week, drivers are on call for seven consecutive 12-hour night shifts, from Friday to Friday, operating between 6:00pm and 6:00am. While treatment actions may be required at any point during this period, our most common precautionary treatment time is 6:00pm.
Following this, drivers provide daytime standby cover over the subsequent weekend between 6:00am and 6:00pm.
Winter maintenance actions are generally based on weather forecasts. A morning update is issued by our Winter Decision Maker indicating the likelihood of treatment being required. Formal decisions are then made based on updated lunchtime forecasts and communicated to supervisors and drivers shortly afterwards. Although most treatments are planned in advance, there are occasions when action may be required at short notice at any time during the standby period. Drivers must therefore be available to respond promptly when called upon.
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Each treatment typically lasts around three hours, excluding vehicle checks, loading, and post-treatment duties. During prolonged periods of severe winter weather, treatments may extend across the full 12-hour standby shift. Drivers would not be continually driving during this time but would remain based at the gritting depot and undertake multiple treatments as required.
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