A fleet of vans belonging to the same company has been taken off the road after police stopped the vehicles on the M6 and found them to be overweight.
Staffordshire Police‘s Road Crime Team stopped the vans on Thursday morning as part of an ongoing operation targeting dangerously overloaded vehicles.
Officers said the worst offender was found to be almost a tonne overweight.
Vans prohibited from continuing journeys
Police warned that carrying excessive weight can significantly affect a vehicle’s handling and make it unsafe to drive.
Every van stopped during the operation was prohibited from continuing its journey until enough of its load had been removed to bring it within the permitted weight.
Officers also cabled the vehicles to prevent them from being driven while the prohibitions remained in place.
Company previously encountered by police
Staffordshire Police said this was not the first time officers had encountered vehicles operated by the company.
All of the cases have now been reported to the Traffic Commissioner.
The enforcement forms part of continuing work by the Road Crime Team to identify vehicles being driven on the motorway network in an unsafe or illegal condition.