The highway authority said the gritters all had a digital operating system with route map planning software.

A competition was launched to name the vehicles, with winning names including Gritty McGrit Face and Grit Britain.

Suffolk-related names in the fleet include Spread Sheeran, Lizzie Gritzzini and Grit Rhys Jones.

The council’s cabinet member for Ipswich, operational highways and flooding, Paul West, said: ‘I am delighted that Suffolk Highways has welcomed 38 state-of-the-art gritters to its fleet, with the names chosen by our county’s young people likely to raise a smile when they are spotted out and about this winter.

‘Although last winter season was milder than previous years, Suffolk Highways still gritted over 3,200 miles of road, roughly the distance from London to Dubai, in response to road temperatures being forecast to drop below one degree Celsius on 62 occasions.’

Sign up here to receive our free weekly news bulletin and quarterly e-book.