Stop stealing our grit, say residents

People living in Market Weighton are claiming they are unable to grit their paths and driveways because thieves from other areas are raiding their supplies.

Grit bins provided for the town's worst-affected areas are being emptied almost as soon as they are filled by council officials, leaving some residents housebound by the snowy conditions.

Market Weighton Town Council bought 10 bins to add to those currently provided by East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Tracy Simms, acting town clerk, said the grit in the bins would be expected to last for around a week in the current conditions.

She said: "But they are just being emptied more or less as they are being filled. We have had reports from residents saying it looks like outsiders are coming and helping themselves to the grit.

"People are entitled to take the grit and use it but it is paid for by our taxpayers' money and if it is outsiders taking it, it is not our residents that are benefiting. We just feel we're filling them up continually and they are being abused."

Mrs Simms added: "They are taking so much that people have actually turned the bins upside down to get every last bit out."

She said some elderly people living in hilly areas of the town had been unable to leave their homes because of the lack of grit, which is believed to have been taken at a rate of around three tonnes per week.

Sergeant Pete Rogers, of Humberside Police, said stealing grit from the bins was theft and anyone caught doing so would be dealt with accordingly. He told the Hull Daily Mail: "The grit bins are intended for the people of Market Weighton and paid for by residents.

"If people are coming from elsewhere and liberating it, it is stealing."