The driver of a council gritter is today recovering at home after his vehicle skidded off the road while gritting a country road near Selby.

A workman watches as a digger recovers the overturned gritter from Scalm Lane, near Bishop Wood, near Selby

Police said the 10-tonne gritter was travelling along Scalm Lane, near Bishop Wood, when one of its front wheels went off the snow-covered carriageway on to the nearside grass verge.

North Yorkshire County Council's divisional engineer, David Bowe, said the driver then lost control and the vehicle left the carriageway on the offside, ending up on its side in a field.

Mr Bowe said: "The road was completely white-over and there was no defining feature between the carriageway and the verge".

The driver was shaken and severely bruised, but had been discharged from hospital.

Mr Bowe said the gritter could well be a write-off. A new one would cost between £50,000 and £70,000.

The incident happened early Saturday morning after overnight snow.

Mr Bowe added: "Gritter drivers are always first on the scene when conditions are far more dangerous.

"These are the sort of conditions that they face when they are trying to create a safe travelling surface for the public. They very often put their own lives at risk".

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