Motorway clean-up crews collect 40,000 litter sacks in year
ALORRY driver shamelessly throws an empty bottle of engine oil onto a motorway embankment in CCTV footage released to launch a crackdown on litter louts.
Highways bosses have revealed more than 40,000 sacks of rubbish had to be collected from motorways in Greater Manchester last year - an average of 108 sacks for every mile of motorway.
Drivers are now being warned that motorway littering could put lives at risk.
In footage released by Highways England, the HGV driver fills his engine up with oil before throwing away the empty container.
He was filmed at the side of the M62 motorway near Rochdale after pulling over to the hard shoulder to fill up.
In a new awareness drive, Highways England is urging drivers to keep their rubbish with them rather than leaving it at the side of the road or throwing it from windows.
They said dumped rubbish and litter risks the lives of the workers who have to collect it.
New signs are set to go up across Greater Manchester’s motorway network showing the message ‘workers lives are put at risk picking your litter’.
Extra litter picking patrols are also being carried out to help tackle the problem.
Paul Cooper, 46, from Bolton, has been collecting litter from motorways for 19 years as part of his job as a maintenance team supervisor.
He said: “I think most drivers who sling litter out their windows don’t really think about what they’re doing, and that someone like me has to come along and clear up after them.
“It tends to be worst on slip roads or where there’s standing traffic, as that’s when drivers seem to decide to have a clear out of their cars.
“There’s always an element of risk when you’re working on the network as you’re near traffic so my message to drivers is please stop dropping litter and take it home with you instead.”
Highways England said it costs the taxpayer an estimated £40 for each sack of litter collected – roughly the same cost as fixing a pothole.
Paul Elliott, a service delivery team leader at Highways England, said litter also poses a risk to drivers if it hits windscreens and could have an impact on wildlife.
He said: “Our teams of workers do a fantastic job removing litter from motorways every year but we’d much rather they were able to spend more of their time carrying out maintenance work.
“Litter has to be collected close to fast-moving traffic – putting our workers at risk – and lane closures are often needed, causing needless disruption to drivers.”
The government this year launched a consultation on proposals to almost double fines for dropping litter to £150.
Under the proposed new measures vehicle owners could also receive penalty notices when it can be proved litter was thrown from their car – even if it was discarded by somebody else.