READERS have flooded The Westmorland Gazette’s Grit Watch service as Cumbria endures its biggest pre-Christmas freeze for decades.

Dozens of residents have revealed their frustration that not enough grit is being delivered to keep side streets and paths clear during the record low temperatures.

The problem has been compounded by growing evidence that grit boxes are being raided for private paths and drives.

The concern has led police to warn those who take grit from public storage bins to use on private paths and drives could be prosecuted for theft.

Cumbria County Council said grit was being delivered to 117 communities to treat local roads and footpaths, including 52 in south Cumbria.

But Grit Watch, launched last week to monitor road salting and give a voice to the community, was told by dozens of people that many bins remained empty.

In some areas where they had been filled, locals claimed the grit had been ‘stolen’.

Ian Telford told Grit Watch that non-residents took grit from the bin at the corner of Ghyll Road and Droomer Drive, Windermere.

“When the bins are filled, people in their 4x4s come along and take it,” he said.

Bernard Drinkall, of Old Hutton, reported that ‘several sackfuls’ of road salt had been loaded into a Range Rover from a grit box at The Park, a steep cul-de-sac.

And Steven Spiby, of Windermere, reported that road salt had been taken from Langdale Crescent by a man in a white van.

“Many of the residents are elderly and need their paths gritting so they can get out,” said Mr Spiby. “They are very upset."

A Cumbria Police spokesman said: “The county council provides grit for people to use on public highways. It is not meant for use on private property.

“If large amounts of grit are being taken to use on private property then police may investigate the incidents as theft.”

After temperatures plummeted to minus 17.9C at Shap on Tuesday night – just three degrees off the record minus 21.1C recorded at Ambleside in January 1940 – fears for the elderly continued to grow.

Last week, two pensioners were found dead in their snow-filled gardens in Kirkby Stephen and Workington, prompting the county’s director of public health, Prof John Ashton, to call on communities to ‘look out for older folk’.

Many aspects of Cumbrian life have been affected by the big freeze.

People have been trapped in their homes or unable to get to work and more than 80 schools and colleges have been forced to close at some point.

Meanwhile, an army of unsung heroes has been battling through thick snow to clear paths and streets which have been neglected. And many people have rallied to help their elderly neighbours with shopping and path clearing.

Linda Hine, of Noble’s Rest, Kendal, said: “There are a lot of pensioners who live here and they haven’t been able to get out.”

A spokesperson for Cumbria County Council said: “It isn’t possible to grit every pavement so we prioritise busier areas... in the town centre shopping zones and busier urban areas.”

He said the council had plenty of grit in its depots and was receiving weekly deliveries of 1,400 tones.

Click on the link below to report untreated roads, icy pavements and empty grit bins on our Grit Watch section.