VANS and tippers carrying poorly secured loads have been stopped on a busy road. 

Seven drivers were given warnings and 15 were given advice about how to improve the security of the loads on their vehicles by police.

The drivers were stopped as part of stop checks on commercial vehicles travelling along the A4174 ring road in a bid to tackle roadside waste. 

The sting was undertaken by the South Gloucestershire council’s environmental crime team and police officers from Avon and Somerset on Monday, May 16 and Friday, May 20.

Whilst the vehicles were being checked, the council’s environmental enforcement and waste management teams advised the drivers of the consequences of travelling with unsecured items.

In total 26 vehicles were stopped over the two days and council officers additionally visited 11 waste sites in the area.

Those spoken to were all issued with an information leaflet and shown a short video highlighting the problems caused by waste and litter escaping from vehicles and what they could do to prevent it.

Councillor Rachael Hunt, cabinet member responsible for waste and recycling, said: “Every year the council spends more than £100,000 clearing waste from roadsides. This work also causes major disruption for everyone using the road, particularly the A4174 ring road, which takes between three to six weeks to clear.

“For this initiative, we’ve taken a positive, proactive approach to educate and inform drivers of vehicles with insecure loads of their legal responsibilities which we hope will help reduce waste and litter on the roadsides and the disruption caused by the clean-up.

"The response from the people stopped has been really encouraging, with many of them taking action to improve the way they transport goods.”

For information on South Gloucestershire’s Sort It recycling centres visit www.southglos.gov.uk/sortitcentres