LORRIES used to salt Hampshire's roads during the winter will be given a trial run this Saturday.

Hampshire County Council will hold a trial salt run between 7am and 1pm to ensure there are no unexpected obstructions on the routes, that the equipment is fully operational and to identify any problems.

The trial will include spreading a very small amount of salt.

The council's annual winter maintenance programme begins on October 1 ahead of the first frosts and snow of the season, and teams will be monitoring forecast and sensors daily right through until April, to assess when salting is needed.

A number of factors are considered when deciding to salt the roads, including a specially provided local weather forecast, and the Icelert system.

The Icelert system consists of a number of roadside sensors which detect road and air temperatures, wind speed and direction, rainfall, and ice formation.

Hampshire's winter maintenance teams treat roads on a priority basis - priority one routes carry the majority of traffic in Hampshire and include A roads, major bus routes and roads to major emergency services, priority two routes include B roads and single accesses to villages.

You can check which roads are on which priority route by visiting hants.gov.uk/roads/winter-maintenance.