GRITTING lorries will be out again today (Monday) treating the roads ahead of snow showers forecast for later this afternoon.

The plan is to grit before the snow arrives - between 1 and 4cm is forecast - and plough through it as necessary.

This morning crews have been ploughing roads and re-clearing high priority footways around places like doctor’s surgeries.

Cllr Stuart Pile, the county council’s executive member for highways and transport, explained that while salt was the best material available to treat snow and ice, it wasn’t a magic powder that made roads completely safe.

He also pointed out that once temperatures dropped to minus six or below, the salt water created from salt and ice would freeze.

But he said that he was confident that supplies of salt and grit would see Herts through the cold spell.

In the meantime refuse and recycling services operated by St Albans council have been severely affected today. Crews unable to make collections have been out clearing snow and gritting pavements and from tomorrow (Tuesday) the council will move to a partial Collect All service.

That means that if your next scheduled collection is missed this week, both black and green waste will be collected together next week and the contents sent to landfill.

Where they have been able to access roads, crews have had trouble getting frozen refuse out of the bins and residents are asked to help by loosening the lids and contents where possible.

The Christmas Market in St Albans is up and running as it has been all weekend.

* Send us your snow pictures to the usual address - hertsad@archant.co.uk - and we will publish the best online and in this week’s paper.