STOP-CHECKS will soon be made on vehicles carrying waste along two major routes in South Gloucestershire by police and county council officers.

The new campaign from South Gloucestershire Council to help prevent littering on highways, a problem costing tens of thousands of pounds a year, will see checks being made along the A4174 ring road and the A403 Severn Road.

Police officers will carry out stop-check inspections of vehicles while South Gloucestershire envirocrime enforcement officers will offer advice and investigate potential prosecution of drivers and waste operators found to be in breach of the law.

All registered operators in the district, and those from neighbouring authorities which are known to travel through the area, have been provided with advice and information on their responsibilities prior to this operation.

South Gloucestershire Council is one of the only authorities in the country to have successfully prosecuted companies under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for failing to take reasonable steps to ensure waste is transported legally, when in 2011, construction and waste management firm Smiths of Gloucester was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £18,336 and a £15 victim surcharge.

Cllr Heather Goddard, chairman of the environment and community services committee, said: “We have a zero tolerance approach to anyone caught littering our highways.

“We spend tens of thousands of pounds each year cleaning up litter from roadside verges, which is a burden to our council tax payers as they bear the brunt of these costs

“We also have to close off parts of this busy road at certain times of the year in order to carry out the clean-up operation safely, leading to major disruption for motorists.”