Some enormous vehicles and their abnormally large loads were escorted into a multi agency vehicle check site at the M6 Corley Services on Thursday 8 December to be checked by officers from Warwickshire Police’s Abnormal load team, CMPG and DVSA colleagues to ensure they are as safe as possible as they travel through the county.

During the operation, police motorcyclists intercepted 14 abnormal loads travelling on the M6 and escorted them into the check site to ensure compliance with movement orders and that the driver and vehicle are safe and legal on the roads.

Seven loads were prohibited from moving until faults on the vehicle were rectified and 9 Traffic Offence Report forms were issued for a variety of offences, including insecure loads.

One overweight vehicle was prohibited from moving until the load was safely reduced. This meant the driver had to organise for another vehicle to come to the check site to take some of the load. Overweight vehicles are particularly dangerous because they will take longer to brake in an emergency and the load is more likely to shift increasing the danger to the driver and other road users.

The drivers of two vehicles with insecure loads were required to secure them safely before being allowed to continue their journeys.

The DVSA also dealt with a number of tachograph offences including driver hours and speed.

Officers also took the opportunity to test drivers were below the legal limit for alcohol and we are pleased to say they all passed.

Inspector Dan Hicks said “In terms of making our roads safer, it was a hugely successful morning where a number of drivers were dealt with for a variety of traffic offences.  We also spoke to many drivers about the safety issues to help them avoid being stopped in future. These operations are so important because ensuring these oversized loads are moved correctly throughout the county reduces the risk they pose to the drivers themselves and to other innocent road users.

“We will continue to work with partners to organise regular operations to check all aspects of driver and vehicle safety.”