Too cool for school: Boy swaps classroom for a gritter

Last week, while you were wrapped-up warm, maybe even off school due to snow, 13-year-old Jamie was having a very different kind of week.

Jamie was setting his alarm clock, not for school, but for helping out on his dad's gritter lorry.

Jamie and his dad, Paul, spent the week spreading grit, clearing snowy roads and even rescuing cars stuck in drifts around Aberdeen.

On one occasion, they helped pull a car off a slippery hill.

"They were fair chuffed," Jamie said. "They were thanking us and offering us money but we were saying, it's fine, we were passing anyway.

"It's a great feeling, just watching their reaction. They're so happy and smiling."

Jamie was due back in the classroom last week after the Christmas holidays, only for the severe weather to force his school and hundreds of others across Scotland and the UK to close.

Admitting that school isn't always his favourite place, he says last week was extra special and wishes he could work with his dad full-time.

"It's more of a struggle to wake up for school. For this, I just set my alarm for half two or three and it's fine," he said.

And while Jamie was excited to help, jumping out of bed during the dark cold early mornings, he says he wasn't jealous of friends at home spending the day playing games and going sledging.

"My pals are at home on their Playstations and Xboxes and do a bit of sledging on the hills, which is fine," he adds.

"But I can play for an hour or two and then get bored and feel lazy, sitting in the house doing nothing.

"It's better to be out here."