A PRIMARY school is hoping to reopen today after it was forced to close when its grit was stolen.

Thieves took more than 15 bags of salt from a shed at Richmond CE Primary School, in North Yorkshire.

The bags were delivered last month, but had been stolen before the school was due to reopen on Tuesday.

Headteacher Di Robinson said that although the caretaker had managed to clear snow, the ice underneath meant the pathways were treacherous.

“We were all organised for the snow, but some kind people took our grit,” she said.

“We have not been able to open since. The main problem we have is the snow and ice.

“Without grit, we are in a difficult position for making the site a safe place for people to come into.

“I can understand that people need grit, but they don’t have to come up to the school and take ours.

“It’s a bit low and the stuff isn’t cheap either – I think it cost us about £5 a bag.”

The headteacher said they had received instructions from education bosses to ensure health and safety was a priority.

“Without grit, I’m going to struggle,” she said.

A fresh delivery of grit arrived yesterday afternoon.

Mrs Robinson was last night hoping that the school could reopen today.

Cleveland Police said they had received several reports of people taking grit from roadside bins.

“These are public bins so they’re not actually doing anything wrong,” a spokeswoman said.

North Yorkshire Police also received reports of motorists stopping to collect bucket loads of salt from a bin in Mowbray Road, Catterick Village.

The force said that this also was a public bin and people were allowed to help themselves.

Meanwhile, residents in a remote village in North Yorkshire have been without heating for nearly a week because a lack of grit on the roads has made it inaccessible.

The village of Stanwick St John, near Eppleby, in Richmondshire, has not been gritted since the snow arrived last month and the street grit bins have been empty for weeks.

Many of the houses in the village have oil-fired central heating and rely on regular deliveries.

After more than 1ft of snow in the past week the roads have become too dangerous for the oil delivery truck to make the journey to Stanwick and the surrounding villages, leaving residents without heat or hot water. One villager, Karen Brown, said the situation had become so desperate that she has had to leave her home with her daughter, Isabelle, three, and move to her mother-in-law’s home in Middlesbrough.

She said: “We’ve been using five fan heaters to keep us warm, although they cost a fortune to run, but when the hot water ran out, that was the final straw.

“We understand that the council has to look after the main roads, but it just seems that us small villages have been forgotten.

“If the council would just put some salt in the bins we would happily grit the roads ourselves.”

District councillor Mick Griffiths, who lives in nearby Eppleby, said: “The situation is not too bad here – the council have kept on top of it.

“People in this area don’t really expect the county council to grit all the roads, but I do take Mrs Brown’s point about the salt bins being empty and something should be done about that.”