Motorists caught 'regularly' breaking major Highway Code weight restriction face £300 penalty

The police have made several arrests over reports of multiple large vehicles using the B4591 in Newport. The road operates with a 7.5-tonne weight restriction preventing many HGVs and lorries from using it.

Under UK law, drivers who breach the weight restrictions can be slapped with a £100 fine for minor overloads of up to 10 per cent but can also be hit with a £300 penalty for significant overloads exceeding 15 per cent.

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Despite the road sign banning heavier vehicles on the stretch of roads, drivers continue to break the rules in Rogerstone.

Police recorded seven breaches of weight restriction in the last week including three with insecure loads, one from a vehicle prohibited and immobilised for being unsafe and another case of an LGV driver arrested for drug driving.

The crackdown was in response to Newport City Councillor Chris Reeks warning that drivers have "regularly" flouted rules on weight restrictions.

He said at a council meeting: "We are regularly seeing lorries and articulated vehicles well in excess of the limit using the roads as a cut-through down to the A467 carriageway. It brings distress to the homeowners who live along the route, as well as increasing the stress on the road surface itself."

He asked members of Gwent Police at the meeting if there was "any way" an operation could be undertaken to "monitor and target these lorry drivers, and deter them from using this road as a cut-through?"

In response Carl Williams, Chief Superintendent of Gwent Police, said there were ways to crack down on the habit and agreed to intervene.

He said he would have the Roads Policing team address the issue, adding: "[It's] not just in Gwent but also happening in South Wales. It's a regional concern. What I can request them to do is to see if we can get some monitoring done in that area."

Last weekend, the police set up patrols to watch the roads and issue penalties to any drivers caught breaking weight restriction rules.

Responding to the police intervention, Reeks said: "I'm really pleased at how swift the reaction from Gwent Police and the Commercial Vehicle Unit has been.

"To set up this operation along High Cross Road so quickly and catch so many offenders in such a short time, was a great result which will be very reassuring to the residents who live along that stretch of the road."

Last week, the police patrolled Gwent and caught several incidents of drivers breaking the "fatal five", which includes careless driving, drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, using a mobile phone and speeding. All of these offences breach the Highway Code.

Further inspection by the force found another driver travelling with tyres below the legal limit of 1.6mm and an insecureload which could cause danger to people driving behind. A roadside drug wipe was also completed on the driver who tested positive.

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In a different case, a female driver who was stopped completed a roadside drug wipe and was also found to have tested positive, she was also found to be in possession of illegal materials.