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Audi has announced that it will phase out production of its last internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2033, with all new cars being all electric from 2026.

Production of the German manufacturer’s final newly-developed combustion engine model will start in just four years.

Audi CEO Markus Duesmann says that as part of its strategic realignment, the company is accelerating the transition to e-mobility as it aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.

He explained: “I don’t believe in the success of bans. I believe in the success of technology and innovation.

“With this roadmap, we are creating the clarity necessary to make a decisive and powerful transition to the electric age. We’re sending the signal that Audi is ready.”

The carmaker, however, expects to see continued demand in China beyond 2033 for ICE vehicles, with potentially a supply of vehicles there with combustion engines manufactured locally.

Audi says it will significantly expand its range of all-electric models, with more than 20 zero-emission models expected in its line-up by 2025.

In the meantime, it says it will also be investing all its efforts in the development of the combustion engine right up to its final discontinuation to achieve greater efficiency. “Audi’s last internal combustion engine will be the best we’ve ever built,” said Duesmann.

In terms of current plug-in product, Audi recently confirmed the new Q4 e-tron electric crossover will be priced from £40,750 and offer a range of up to 316 miles.

The new model shares a platform with the recently launched VW ID4 and Skoda Enyaq iV. It will be offered in SUV and Sportback bodystyles.

At the entry-level, the Q4 35 e-tron and the Q4 Sportback 35 e-tron use a compact 52kWh battery and a 170PS electric motor. This is sufficient for 9.0-second 0-62mph acceleration and a WLTP-certified range of up to 208 miles on a full charge.

Audi also revealed the new e-tron GT at the start of the year, a fully-electric saloon car, with a power output of 476PS, with 530PS available via ‘Boost Mode’. This means it can accelerate from 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds.  By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

Following on the heels of VW who are installing chargers into 400 Tesco car parks for all EV drivers to use irrespective of make of car.

Tesla will enable cars from other manufacturers to use its Supercharger network later this year, according to Elon Musk.

The company’s CEO made the announcement on Twitter, but no further details of the arrangement have been outlined.

His tweet said: “we’re making our Supercharger network open to other EVs later this year.”

Currently the Tesla Supercharger Network is available exclusively to Tesla drivers, meaning units in the UK do not have to meet the Government’s requirements for ad-hoc access to public charging.

The Supercharger points provide up to 250kW of charging power, but would require users of non-Tesla vehicles to use a socket adapter for compatibility. There are currently 600 charge points in the network.

Telsa’s Supercharger network was found to be the nation’s favourite in a recent poll by What Car?.

Users rated it very highly for reliability, charging speed, ease of payment and value for money, giving it an overall score of 89.8%.

Drivers of other electric vehicles told What Car? that the Instavolt network was their preferred public charger. It achieved an overall score of 81.2% and was the top scoring network for reliability with 92.6%.

Gridserve’s Electric Highway gained the highest score of 74.9% for location, the motorway network was rated worst for reliability, scoring just 23.7%. This network was previously operated by Ecotricity and has only recently been taken over by Gridserve, which has promised to revamp every location by the end of this year.  

Steve Huntingford, editor, What Car?, said: “Our investigation highlights the significant differences between electric car public charging networks. Those that offer the fastest charging speeds are not necessarily the best to use, and some of the most affordable can also be the most inaccessible. As more people switch to EVs the demand for public chargers will increase, and EV owners really do need to shop around to find the best charging solutions.”

When it comes to charging speed, Tesla took the lead and scored 95.5%, followed closely by Ionity with 95.3% – both providers offer charging speeds of above 200kW.

Tesla’s flat charging fee of 28p per kWh helped it gain the best score for value for money, too, whereas Ionity’s 69p per kWh charge earned it a rating of just 19.5%, the worst in What Car?’s data. 

The easiest networks to use were those that allowed drivers to tap and pay and didn’t require them to register, while those with glitchy apps, lengthy sign-up processes or a requirement to use a physical charging card to activate a charge point were rated down in this area. Worst of all was Charge Place Scotland, which has a complex registration process and took 10 days to send out a charging card, without which you can’t access the network.

However, it was Charge Your Car that came last overall because its charge points were deemed unreliable and in What Car?’s experience were frequently blocked by other vehicles because they were at the roadside with no dedicated electric car bays. It scored just 26.6% for reliability and 34.4% for location, and managed only 43.5% overall.

What Car? charge point survey results:

Company	Reliability	Location	Charging speed	Value for money	Ease of payment	Overall score
1 Tesla	83.7%	74.3%	95.5%	95.5%	100%	89.8%
2 Instavolt	92.6%	63.5%	79.0%	71.0%	100%	81.2%
3 Osprey	80.6%	71.3%	61.7%	69.8%	100%	76.7%
4 Shell Recharge	75.0%	53.5%	91.7%	57.5%	100%	75.5%
5 Pod Point	70.3%	69.9%	54.7%	93.0%	70.0%	71.6%
6 Gridserve Electric Highway	23.7%	74.9%	84.6%	67.6%	100%	70.2%
7 BP Pulse	36.9%	45.0%	87.2%	52.0%	100%	64.2%
8 Ionity	60.6%	61.4%	95.3%	19.5%	70.0%	61.4%
9 Engie	53.8%	54.5%	59.5%	91.9%	40.0%	59.9%
10 Charge Place Scotland	55.0%	63.7%	60.5%	90.9%	20.0%	58.0%
11 GeniePoint	58.5%	34.6%	55.0%	70.8%	70.0%	57.8%
12 Charge Your Car	26.6%	34.4%	49.2%	67.2%	40.0%	43.5%

By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News & What Car?

A price premium for pure used battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is leaving many buyers reluctant to make the switch, when faced with a cheaper, second-hand diesel car.

Alternative fuel vehicles, which include mild and plug-in hybrid models as well as pure electric cars, only account for between 5-8% of Aston Barclay’s used stock.

However, for some fleet customers it can be as high as 10-12% of their total inventory, according to Martin Potter, Aston Barclay’s managing director – customer.

He says fleet vendors are realising that, while they may be currently remarketing three-year-old internal, combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, their product mix will quickly change with the majority of new fleet registrations becoming electric.

Recent research from Centrica Business Solutions showed a healthy appetite for fleet electrification, with UK businesses planning to spend £16 billion on plug-in vehicles in 2021 – a 50% uplift on last year.

It revealed that UK firms spent £10.5bn on EVs and on-site charging points during the year to March 2021 but are now planning £15.8bn of investment in the same area over the next 12 months.

Two fifths (40%) of those questioned said they had increased the total number of EVs within their fleet between April 2020 and March 2021.

Incentives for fleets and company car drivers have helped drive the record-breaking EV registrations, thanks to new benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax rates, introduced last spring.

“We’re all working very hard to understand the market and, most importantly, to understand where the consumers are coming from,” Martin Potter, Aston Barclay

Overall, there were 108,205 battery electric vehicles BEVs sold in 2020, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), significantly more than the 66,879 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) registered during the year.

In terms of non-plug-in mild hybrids, the SMMT data shows that 110,087 cars were registered.

Two-thirds (67%) of the registrations for BEVs and PHEVs (68%) were from fleets, last year.

Potter said: “The hybrid stock we’re selling is 44 months old, on average, 48,000 miles and the average price is around £13,000.

“That is very similar to the typical fleet stock and it’s at a price the consumer can work with, whereas you then look at the battery electric that has an average age of 20 months, 18,000 miles and £25,000 average sale price.

“The gap between what somebody has to pay for that and a diesel or even a hybrid equivalent is currently so vast it’s hard for them to justify, but that will change.”

Dylan Setterfield, head of forecast strategy at pricing experts Cap HPI, recently told Fleet News that the higher residual values (RVs) in absolute terms enjoyed by EVs are not simply because they have higher list prices; low volumes also have an impact.

RVs are supported by carefully managed remarketing strategies by the manufacturers, keeping used examples in the dealer network or negotiating bulk deals for niche second-hand use,

However, he expects the current price premium of used BEVs and PHEVs will gradually reduce over time thanks to increasing volumes.

Values of older used models may also come under pressure if newer models come with better technology or a cheaper list price.

“We’re all working very hard to understand the market and, most importantly, to understand where the consumers are coming from,” said Potter.

Covid helps drive ‘time to sell’ reduction

After welcoming back buyers to auctions halls in April, Potter told Fleet News that the return to physical sales had proved worthwhile, with conversion rates increasing and those in attendance accounting for a higher proportion of final bids. “The physical buyers were definitely buying more cars,” he said. 

Aston Barclay has been employing an “omni-channel” sales approach to remarketing its vehicles, with the mix dependent on the sector its serving.

Fleet cars, for example, are sold online but buyers are also able to bid in person in the auction hall. Cars aren’t driven through the auction hall, however, with buyers instead able to view stock prior to the sale.

Stock where condition can be more of a potential issue, such as dealer part-exchange, is being driven through the auction hall, while OEM stock is dealt with offsite and completely virtually.

Potter said: “I’m really pleased we’ve got this different approach for different sectors and without the pandemic I think it would have been really hard to do.

“The pandemic has forced people to get used to the different technologies and different ways of remarketing.”

He continued: “It’s a really exciting time for the business. More and more people are looking for diversity in getting vehicles to market to maximise their values, but most importantly is less days to sell, especially in the fleet and finance sectors.”

Once a vehicle comes off the fleet, the leasing company is no longer receiving a monthly rental so time to sell is crucial, particularly when it’s a depreciating asset.

“They want the money back in the bank so they can finance another one,” explained Potter. “We’re now able to use new technologies, products and services that can all lend themselves to reducing the number of days to sell.

“For example, we’ve got some customers using our app-based appraisal tool three or four weeks before the car’s contract is due to be terminated, which allows us to start remarketing it before its defleeted. That’s going to reduce days.” By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

Confusion Over The Government’s EV Plans.

The Government’s long-awaited transport decarbonisation plan has been delayed after it lacked the ambition to meet targets, including the 2030 ban on new diesel and petrol vehicles.

The plan was originally due to be published before the end of 2020 and was then pushed back to spring 2021.

It will now miss that deadline after transport minister Rachel Maclean told MPs in a Westminster debate that she was not happy with the draft plan.

She said: “I am not satisfied with the draft because it does not meet the ambition we need in order to reach those incredibly challenging targets.”

She told the debate in Westminster Hall that she was unable to give a publication date, but the Department for Transport (DfT) intended to publish the plan “soon”.

The plan is the first time the UK will lay out its approach to decarbonising every form of transport and is an essential part of achieving the legal requirement for net zero emissions by 2050 and the Climate Change Committee’s sixth carbon budget.

Maclean told MPS that the Government is developing three key policy documents over the course of 2021.

“The first is a delivery plan that will set out key Government commitments, funding and milestones… for the 2030 and 2035 phase-out dates,” she said.

“It will deal with the question whether we will have a zero-emission vehicle mandate.”

An infrastructure strategy will set out the “vision and action plan” for the charging infrastructure roll-out that is needed to achieve the phase-out date successfully and accelerate the transition to zero emission transport.

“As part of this strategy we are working with local authorities, charge point operators and other stakeholders to ensure that our future charging infrastructure is practical, accessible, reliable and achievable, alongside outlining all the key roles and responsibilities for all actors in the EV charging sectors,” continued Maclean.

“It is clear that we need more charge points everywhere and this Government will set out how that will take place.”

It will also bring forward the Green Paper on the UK future CO2 emissions regulatory framework, which will set out how the UK will phase out petrol and diesel cars and vans and support the interim carbon budgets. This will include “consulting on which vehicles exactly can be sold between 2030 and 2035”.

Maclean also said that the Government intends to “support people to charge their cars at home”.

She explained: “We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government at the moment and we have consulted on plans to introduce a requirement for every new home to have a charge point, where there is an associated parking space. We will publish our response soon.

“We aim to lay regulations in Parliament in 2021 – this year – that will make England the first country in the world to introduce mandatory charge points in new homes, again cementing our position as the global leader in the race to net zero.”

The Government also intends to tackle the issue of public charge points not working.

When questioned by Labour’s shadow minister for green and future transport Kerry McCarthy whether there would be legislation requiring charge point operators to meet certain reliability standards, Maclean said: “We already have those powers in legislation and we intend to use them.”  By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

Birmingham is hosting the Project Endeavour autonomous driving trial, as it enters its next phase on public roads.

The trials offer the Project Endeavour partners the opportunity to refine local deployment approaches as well as understand and model the complex and busy road network in Birmingham.

Project Endeavour – a Government-backed mobility research project – is the UK’s first multi-city demonstration of autonomous vehicle services and capability. The Birmingham trials follow a successful deployment in Oxford and the project will culminate with a final demonstration at a showcase event in Greenwich in August 2021.

The Project Endeavour trial will feature four Ford Mondeo vehicles fitted with LiDAR, radar and stereo cameras and integrated with Oxbotica’s autonomy software platform. The fleet, capable of Level 4 autonomous driving, will operate in a five-mile area around Lea Hall station, between Birmingham International Airport and the city centre.

During the trials, a professionally-trained safety driver will be in the vehicle, capable of resuming control if necessary.

  

Trials will run throughout the day for several weeks, allowing Oxbotica’s autonomous vehicles to experience a range of traffic scenarios and weather conditions.

Dr Graeme Smith, senior vice president at Oxbotica and director of Project Endeavour, said: “Project Endeavour is a one-of-a-kind research project that is allowing us to learn about the challenges of deploying autonomous vehicles in multiple cities across the UK – a key part of being able to deploy services safely and at scale.

“This stage of the mobility project is a new step for us, as Birmingham hosts our fleet of autonomous vehicles for the first time in real-life environments, and there has been a huge amount of enthusiasm from the local authority in the UK’s second largest city ahead of the deployment.

So far, Project Endeavour has been a real collaborative effort, bringing everyone into the discussion: from local authorities, to road safety groups, transport providers, and, most importantly, the general public.”

As part of the deployment, Birmingham City Council says it is keen to understand the impact that autonomous vehicle services could have on areas with limited connectivity, and how improving access to employment hubs could boost job opportunities and reduce private vehicle use.  By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

The first BP Pulse rapid charging hub for fleet vehicles has been switched on in Park Lane, London, with Uber among its first customers.

The new multi-charger hub can provide rapid charging for 10 vehicles simultaneously and BP Pulse plans to more than double its capacity in the coming months.

The company says it intends to open hundreds of similar hubs across London and other UK and European cities by 2030, supporting the transition of fleets to electric vehicles.

Richard Bartlett, BP’s senior vice president, future mobility and solutions, said: “London anticipates that by 2025 taxis and private hire vehicles will account for 80% of all public charging demand in the city.

“Fast, reliable charging infrastructure in convenient locations is essential to give business and fleet customers the confidence to make the switch to electric. That’s why we’re opening our new hubs at the heart of major cities across the UK and Europe, aiming to keep fleets charged and ready for business – whilst producing zero emissions.”

BP’s ambition is to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner and, with electrification at at the heart of its ‘convenience and mobility strategy’, it aims to grow its network of public EV charging points to more than 70,000 worldwide by 2030.

Uber’s vision is to electrify all cars on its app in London by 2025. As part of its strategic relationship with BP, Uber is BP’s first fleet customer to get access to the new hubs, with dedicated charge points for Uber partner-drivers.

BP’s EV customers already have access to around 8,700 rapid and ultra-fast charging points, including a fast-growing network at BP retail sites in the UK. These new hubs will expand BP’s offering to fleet customers by providing rapid charging in major cities.

Jamie Heywood, Uber regional general manager, northern and eastern Europe, said: “At Uber, we have been doing everything we can to encourage drivers to switch to electric vehicles, including launching Uber Green to make zero-emissions transport a reality.

“We know that one of the greatest barriers to electrification is the lack of rapid charging points in the right places that are convenient for drivers – BP Pulse’s fantastic new hub is a great step forward in making sure their needs will be met.”

The new rapid charging hubs will deliver charging in locations where fleet and operational vehicles need it most – and importantly at scale, with a target of at least 10 chargers per site, says BP Pulse.

Wherever possible, additional facilities will be provided at each location, including toilets, WiFi and refreshments.

The Park Lane hub has 10 rapid 50kW chargers, with a further 12 chargers being added in the coming months. A second site is already under construction in the Westminster area.

In an interview with Fleet News, CEO Matteo de Renzi reveals how BP Pulse aims to have UK’s biggest network of ultra-fast chargers. By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

The European Commission has fined BMW and Volkswagen Group €875,189,000 (£751m) for colluding with Daimler on the development of NoX treatment technology.

Daimler was not fined, as it revealed the existence of the cartel to the Commission.

According to the European Commission’s report, Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche and VW held regular technical meetings to discuss the development of AdBlue systems, also known as selective catalytic reduction (SCR)-technology.

During these meetings, and for more than five years, the car manufacturers colluded to avoid competition on cleaning better than what is required by law despite the relevant technology being available.

Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen group reached an agreement on AdBlue tank sizes and ranges and a common understanding on the average estimated AdBlue-consumption. They also exchanged commercially sensitive information on these elements.

Executive vice-president of the Commission, Margrethe Vestager, said: “The five car manufacturers possessed the technology to reduce harmful emissions beyond what was legally required under EU emission standards. But they avoided to compete on using this technology’s full potential to clean better than what is required by law.

“So today’s decision is about how legitimate technical cooperation went wrong. And we do not tolerate it when companies collude. It is illegal under EU Antitrust rules. Competition and innovation on managing car pollution are essential for Europe to meet our ambitious Green Deal objectives. And this decision shows that we will not hesitate to take action against all forms of cartel conduct putting in jeopardy this goal.”

Green group Transport & Environment (T&E) believes that in the wake of Dieselgate, this latest scandal shows car manufacturers “cannot be trusted” to put people’s health and the climate before profit.

Julia Poliscanova, senior director for vehicles and emobility at the organisation, said: “Carmakers cannot be trusted to clean up cars. First they cheated on emissions tests, then they colluded to delay cleaner vehicles even though they had the technology. Only an EU target to switch to 100% emissions-free cars by 2035 will be enough to decarbonise by mid-century and avoid climate catastrophe.” By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

Coventry City Council is leading a new project to investigate the implementation of dynamic wireless charging solutions for electric vehicles, including HGVs.

The system would allow compatible vehicles to charge up as they drive along a specific section of road.

The study, which is funded through the Ofgem Network Innovation Allowance (NIA) mechanism, will consist of research and data modelling to assess feasibility for implementing the system in the UK and the potential for the first real-world demonstrator.

Environmental consultancy Ricardo will be supporting the project, working alongside electricity distribution network operator, Western Power Distribution (WPD).

Denis Naberezhnykh, technical director at Ricardo, said: “This technology allows electric vehicles to charge their batteries or be powered directly, while being driven, and would allow vehicles with demanding duty cycles to switch from petrol or diesel to being electric.

This could be a game-changer as the automotive industry looks for ways to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels and indicates just how important this project is.”

Ricardo will undertake the project management and technical review of the project activities and outputs on behalf of WPD, utilising its experience in the field and providing an additional level of technical expertise and quality assurance.

Other partners involved in the 11-month study includine: Cenex; Coventry University; Hubject; Midlands Connect; National Express; Transport for West Midlands; and Electreon.

Steven Pinkerton-Clark, WPD’s innovation & low carbon network engineer, added: “This project will assess the technology’s potential to support decarbonisation of transport and meeting UK Net Zero targets.

“The study will look at developing an understanding of how this technology can be connected to the electricity network and aims to minimise network reinforcement costs, while enabling the connection of low carbon technologies to benefit our customers.”

The results will assess the electrical impact and requirements of the technology on the distribution network, look at the feasibility of dynamic wireless charging and help forecast the uptake in Coventry and throughout the UK.

The study will also look at specific opportunities for a future demonstrator to be implemented in Coventry to demonstrate the real-world operation of the technology and how to address potential challenges.  By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

New research has highlighted how temperature and state of charge (SoC) impacts the degradation of lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs).

The research by Altelium, an EV battery warranty provider, investigated calendar degradation of li-ion batteries – which is caused by chemical deterioration of batteries when they are not in use, especially when parked.

The data found the ideal conditions for improving overall battery life is charging the battery once it hits the 10% level and recharge to 80%, instead of allowing the battery to drain to empty or zero and recharging to 100%.

The research also highlighted that high-level SoC between 70-80% as the ‘worst’ position in which a car should be left parked at, as it could cause greater calendar ageing.

EV batteries stored at 70-80% could lose up to four to eight per cent of capacity to hold charge at the end of one year, when compared to the ‘best condition’ observed – when the battery is completely discharged, the research found.

Dr. Alana Zülke, lead research author and member of the battery research team at Altelium, said: “What happens if you are a very conservative driver, who prefers to daily top up your car battery, so it stands at an 80% overnight, always ensuring that you always have maximum energy reserve ready to use?

“Although four to eight per cent may not sound that much, you have to remember that current li-ion batteries on the market used in EVs are deemed to need replacing when their ability to hold charge drops by as little as twenty or thirty per cent. In this scenario, 8% becomes a pivotal margin.

“When batteries reduce their capacity by 20 or 30%, they can be repurposed to second-life applications such as battery energy storage system (BESS).

“The previous history of these batteries, including calendar ageing, will impact their second-life performance.”

The research also found that reducing the temperature experienced by the battery from 40 to 25 degrees celsius can almost double the overall lifetime of the battery.

Alteium said the research provides EV drivers the information to help them make ‘more informed’ choices on what vehicle add-ons to opt for, such as ensuring the use of a thermal management system, and which strategies could impact the value of their car battery.

Zülke said: “Calendar ageing dominates electric vehicle battery degradation when parked– in the UK, a car will spend on average more than 95% of its time parked. To improve the lifecycle of batteries, it is vital to define the optimal conditions to reduce such degradation.

“Our research is another important step in quantifying the impact of working and environmental conditions on battery state-of-health. By doing so, we can predict battery life cycles and develop strategies to prolong their usefulness more accurately.

“Ultimately this data will not only inform EV battery and Battery Management Systems (BMS) design, but also has further applications for the industry.

“Information about battery degradation will inform risk calculations for EV battery-related insurance and warranty products and further still, help to consider the value of second-hand cars and second-life batteries.”

Alteium said the team conducted a series of experiments using commercial high-energy 21700 lithium-ion battery cells (NCA|Gr-Si) under eight state of charge levels (0%, 20%, 40%,60%, 70%, 80%, 90% and 100% state of charge) and three temperature values (25°C, 40°C and 50°C) to measure the effects of degradation. By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

The Government is launching a national advertising campaign this month ahead of the rollout of E10 petrol.

Aimed at raising awareness of the greener fuel, the campaign will be seen on fuel pump labels and in targeted digital, radio and social media advertising.

As well as promoting the benefits of E10 – which is petrol blended with up to 10% renewable ethanol – the campaign will encourage motorists to check their vehicle is compatible with the fuel.

E10 petrol will be available in UK petrol stations in Great Britain from September. Transport minister, Rachel Maclean, said the rollout of E10 is the latest in a “string of measures” the Government is taking to cut road emissions.

“This campaign will not only make drivers aware of the changes we’re making, but will also show millions of motorists how E10 introduction plays a part in helping reduce carbon emissions and build back greener with every tank of petrol,” she added.

The introduction of E10 will see renewable ethanol in petrol double from the current petrol blend E5, which contains no more than 5% ethanol.

A small number of older vehicles, including classic cars and some from the early 2000s, will continue to need E5 fuel, which is why supplies of E5 petrol will be maintained in the super petrol grade.

The Government is advising motorists to use the new E10 compatibility checker to see if their vehicle is compatible.  By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

Highways England has released video footage of the moment it caught vehicle occupants dumping rubbish at the side of the M6.

The ‘litter louts’ were spotted on CCTV by a keen-eyed control room operator.

Police were dispatched to the Staffordshire location and the offenders were intercepted further along the motorway. They were escorted back to the emergency area where they’d dumped the rubbish and forced to clean it up.

Highways England’s senior network planner, Frank Bird, said: “This was a blatant and reckless abuse of one of our designated emergency areas which are there to help people in the event of just that, an emergency. 

“We watched the whole incident unfold on our CCTV system in our control room and then quickly passed it to the police who were able to stop the vehicle and escort them safely back to the emergency area to tidy up their mess. 

“We continue to work closely with our police colleagues who enforce issues like this and we’d remind people to take their litter home and dispose of it safely.”

Along with a stern word in the ear of the culprits, their details will also be forwarded to Environmental Health officers for their information so should any future incidents occur there will be a recorded history. 

The incident – which took place on March 28 – is being used as a timely reminder about the dangers of littering which puts Highways England’s workforce at risk when they have to go out and collect it.

Highways England is calling on drivers to ‘be part of the pick’ and join them in doing their bit to reduce litter levels on the nation’s motorways as part of the Great British Spring Clean (May 28-June 13).

During last year’s campaign, Highways England collected 12,000 bags of litter from the network. By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News