Gritters going into overtime as Northamptonshire's spring freeze continues

April's wintry weather has forced Northamptonshire s gritters into overtime in springtime.

More snow hit parts of the county overnight and on Monday morning and Met Office forecasters say night-time temperatures are set to carry on tumbling to somewhere uncomfortably near freezing until next week.

The county's 20 strong gritting fleet usually start resting their wheels for the summer about now.

But the risk of more snow, sleet and ice will keep them on the roads for an extra week.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Highways confirmed: "Due to the continued changes in weather and cold forecast we are extending our winter service for a week.

"We usually end on April 15 but think we might be needed so we will keep monitoring and posting our plans here."

Gritters from depots at Brixworth, Wellingborough and Towcester — which have been on standby every night since October 15 — were out from 8pm last night salting priority routes ahead of today's return to school and more people hitting the roads as lockdown rules are relaxed.

Northamptonshire has one of the longest gritting routes in the country with 1,157 miles of A and B roads treated whenever forecasters predict temperatures will drop below 0.5 C.

Click HERE to see a map showing all the county's gritting routes.

Local forecasters @NNweather's Monday forecast says: "The latest radar loop shows an area of snow to our southwest which has moved southeast this morning.

"The snow has been light and patchy over our county but Oxford has seen a few centimetres of lying snow.

"Any patchy sleet or snow will soon clear to leave a day of sunny spells and a few scattered afternoon showers in the county with max temperatures 9°C. But it will be frosty again tonight."