Gritsy Bitsy and David Plowie show true grit to triumph in naming contest
As winter approaches, Doncaster Council brought fun to keeping the roads ice-free by asking the public to name its new gritters.
Saturday 18 November 2017 10:24, UK
Doncaster Council's two new gritting lorries have been named after an "incredibly tight" public poll attracted more than 40,000 votes.
The council already had five named gritters - Brad Grit, Gritney Spears, The Subzero Hero, Mr Plow and Usain Salt.
Knowing it takes sheer grit and determination to come up with a witty name, the public were asked for clean and original ideas. Replies came in by the lorry load.
The first name to emerge victorious from the #DoncasterGrittingWorldCup was Gritsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Anti-Slip Machiney - seeing off competition from Spready Mercury.
Meanwhile, the second lorry will now be known as David Plowie after beating Basil Salty with 58% of the vote.
Among the other ideas were Grit Van Dyke, True Grit, Rule Grittania and Salt Disney.
Natalie Washington suggested the name Gritsy Bitsy, a play on words from Brian Hyland's 1960 song Itsy Bisty Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini.
The 34-year-old said the competition had been "incredibly tight".
She added: "I think it went ahead early on, then it went back to 50-50. I thought: 'Is it going to lose?' but it rallied later on.
"When you go on courses or whatever, and you have to say an interesting fact about yourself, well I've got one now.
"I can say I've named a gritter."
A council spokesman said: "We have named gritters before, but we did them with schools.
"It seems to have cheered Britain up. It's been amazing and got people interested in gritting."