Gritting and snow clearance in Dorking

Office entrances, school paths and sloping town gardens, salted by hand when frost is due.

Winter ice in Dorking is mostly a front door problem: an office entrance near the station, a care home ramp, a flight of steps up to a house on one of the sandstone slopes. That’s where our gritting in Dorking starts. We clear snow by hand and salt paths, steps, ramps, entrances, bin store paths and car parks, for homes and businesses across the town.

We’re a family-run team from Horley, about eight miles east, and you’ll see the same faces each time. Businesses usually agree a winter plan with us in the autumn. Householders can too, or just ring.

Gritting Dorking’s offices, schools and care homes

The town’s working ground is fairly compact. There are offices and units clustered near Dorking West station, a secondary school of around 1,400 pupils, several primaries, and care homes offering nursing and dementia care. HSE expects anyone running a workplace to manage the slip risk on outdoor routes in ice and snow, which in practice means the walk between where people park or get dropped off and the door. Salt laid once staff are already arriving has missed its moment.

So for commercial gritting we write it down: which routes, which entrances, which steps and ramps, and what weather brings us out. When frost or snow is forecast we come, treat the agreed routes and send a note confirming it’s done.

Sandstone slopes and clay by the Pipp Brook

The houses on the greensand slopes, many built in the 1920s and 30s, come with steps and sloping paths, and the town climbs to 137 metres at Glory Wood. Sandstone drains well, so ice there tends to be a thin overnight film. Along the north bank of the Pipp Brook it’s another matter: Gault clay holds the wet, low spots stay soggy and a cold night locks it all into ice. With over a thousand flats in the south of town alone, there’s plenty of shared path that someone needs to look after.

Gritting in Dorking: your questions

Anything else, just ring. You’ll speak to the people who do the work.

We’re an office with our own car park. Do you grit all of it?

We grit the routes people walk: the line between the parking bays and the entrance, the entrance itself, and any steps or ramps. Tell us where people actually go and we’ll agree it on a site visit.

Can we have a written record for our risk assessment?

Yes. The plan is in writing, and after each visit we tell you what was done and when. It won’t remove all risk, because nothing does, but it shows the routes were looked after.

Our path runs under trees and is covered in wet leaves. Does that matter?

It does. Wet leaves are slippery on their own and they hold water that freezes. Dorking has woodland pressing in on several sides, so it’s worth clearing paths properly in late autumn. We can do that on an autumn visit, then grit the same paths once the frosts arrive.