Crews working on behalf of Herts County Council have been working around the clock to get grass verges on main roads cut back and carry out other maintenance jobs.

It’s the first time that highways contractor Ringway has introduced 7pm to 7am shifts to maintain verges on fast roads, clean signs and bollards, empty gullies and repair street lights.

In earlier years verges on fast roads were cut during the day, meaning potential delays for some road users.

Now the schedule is planned to include the overnight work, with a streamlined system of co-ordinating the jobs that need to be done that means daytime disruption should be kept to a minimum.

Councillor Terry Douris, Herts County Council’s lead member for highways, said: “We are continually reviewing and improving our highways service.

“By grass cutting at night and completing other maintenance work at the same time, we are reducing the disruption on our overall road network.

“Because the work is being carried out at night you won’t see the team out on the road, but you will notice shorter grass and other maintenance works.”