Have you thought about winter gritting? MITIE’s national gritting service started receiving Met Office forecasts at the beginning of October so they knew that there was a cold spell on its way. The wintry spell at the beginning of October left many businesses out in the cold. The south of England was hit hard by snow, the first time in 70 years. Flights were cancelled; football matches postponed and the snowfall caused traffic chaos on the roads. In November, parts of the country were again hit with another wintry spell. 

Both times public roads weren’t the only things to be affected. Business, retail and commercial premises had their car parks and footpaths turned in to the equivalent of ice rinks, causing a grave risk to all those driving or walking. For those businesses in Scotland and the northern counties it’s normal for them to be thinking about gritting about now but it’s very out of character for the south of the country. 

MITIE reported a 20% increase in its gritting business in October as customers dealt with the cold weather and got their winter precautions in place. From their reports MITIE predicts that there will be around 21 gritting nights in the south, 36 in the north of England and 50 or more in Scotland over the winter.

Larry Jones, director for MITIE’s landscape business commented: “We provide gritting services to over 1,000 customers throughout the UK and we inform them what weather we’re likely to see over the winter period. The forecast we’ve issued to our customers advises that we’re in for a colder winter than last year’s but probably warmer than the 1971-2000 average.” 

- ENDS - 

For further information contact: 

David Revis, PR and Investor Relations Manager, MITIE Group PLC
T: 020 7407 0063 M: 07979 702465 E: david.revis@mitie.co.uk 

Sarah Phillips, Marketing Communications Executive, MITIE Cleaning & Environmental Services
T: 0117 957 9422 M: 07827 979052 E: sarah.phillips@mitie.co.uk

What is MITIE?
We’re the strategic outsourcing and asset management company.

What does that mean in practice? Providing everything from strategic consultancy, to world-class delivery on the ground. From long-term infrastructure planning, to facilities management, property and engineering services. Our strategic input can add value at the highest level, while our practical management expertise can save customers money and maximise their returns.

At the same time, it’s not just what we do, but how we do it that makes us different. Our people are passionate about what they do, committed to working in partnership with their clients, and will always look for a fresh answer to a new challenge.

We work with our clients in three ways; some take full advantage of our whole range of expertise by buying the whole suite, others may only need one aspect of what we do:

Strategy and consultancy

+ Facilities and project management

+ Service delivery

In other words, we think, we manage, and we deliver.

The thinking phase is all about finding strategic answers to long-term challenges about assets and resources. Facilities and project management puts those plans in place, and our unrivalled range of services is one of the best in the business.

There’s a lot more to MITIE than you probably think. We’re a big company with big ambitions - a leading FTSE 250 support services business, with 49,000+ people, revenues in excess of £1.4bn, and a reputation for being the best.