Gritters in Surrey have driven further than the distance from London to Bangkok in just four days.

Surrey County Council’s winter operation kicked into high gear on Friday morning as snow began to blanket the county.

From then, until the early hours of Monday, the fleet of gritting lorries covered 10,184 miles of road, more than 2,000 miles further than the 8,035 mile distance from London to Bangkok.

In the same period, workers involved in the gritting operation worked a total of 1,774 hours throughout the 24/7 schedule.

John Furey, Surrey County Council’s cabinet member for transport and environment, said: “Surrey’s gritters and ploughs have been out around the clock helping to make roads as safe as possible.

“Together with our contractor May Gurney, district, borough and parish councils, we’re doing everything we can to help keep Surrey moving during the ice and snow and we’ll continue to do so until the weather improves.”

Before the big freeze, the council and their contractor stockpiled 16,000 tonnes of salt, double the amount needed in an average Surrey winter.

The fleet of 39 gritting lorries have been supported by 51 farmers, quad bikes, a “monster gritter” and hand gritting crews.