Hundreds of plastic bottles of urine allowed to accumulate on verge

Highways Agency eventually act on Litter Abatement Order Warning Notice and remove urine bottles

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The photos show  the southbound “on” slip road at J8A of the M40 and were taken on 27th January 2011 after I had received a call from a road user.  He said the hard shoulder of this quiet slip road  was  used by lorry drivers to park up at night.   While there they discard plastic bottles  of urine onto the verge.    He said this had been going on for some years.

When I walked on the verge I realised that there were literally hundreds of urine filled bottles underfoot  only some of which were visible on the surface.  This situation seemed to  extend for over 200 meters.   The low fence visible in the photos does not delineate  the outer border of the verge.  It encloses a large section of the verge  and is there to protect saplings.

I immediately e-mailed  an EPA Section 91 warning notice to the Secretary of State for Transport insisting that the verge was cleaned.

In spite of progressing the matter on  3rd Feb and  7th Feb I did not received a response until 18th Feb i.e. 22days after sending in my complaint.

The e-mail from the Highways Agency said that the area had been inspected  during week commencing 18 January 2011 and  recorded as Category B (predominantly free of litter and refuse apart from some small items).  They went on to say “However, it is likely that the next inspection, due imminently, will record this slip road as Category C“.

The verge was cleaned and the urine bottles removed on 18th and 19th February.  I wrote to the Secretary of State informing of this positive outcome and saying I would not now proceed with an application for a Litter Abatement Order.

Success!!

To see all of the correspondence go to Categories on the right hand menu and select M40 J8A