Officers from the Central Motorway Policing Group (CMPG) pulled the three males over after they dumped bags of rubbish on a grass verge next to the M6 motorway on Sunday, 28th March.
The males had been spotted by eagle-eyed Highways England CCTV operators who were monitoring the roads.
They were stopped approximately four miles away from where they had dumped their load.
Not only would the rubbish have caused a hazard to the environment, but you can imagine what would happen if a gust of wind blew the garbage across the motorway and into the path of a motorcyclist (as an example).
Images shared on Twitter by CMPG show the men putting the rubbish back into the bags.
“M6 J12 to J13 an eagle-eyed @HighwaysWMIDS who was monitoring the CCTV cameras notice the occupants of a Passat dumping rubbish in a ERA bay.
“We intercepted the vehicle M6 J14 to J15 and escorted them back clear their rubbish up. Details passed to @EnvAgency. 5419.”
James Hawkes, Highways England network operations manager for the Midlands, said:
“We spotted this blatant and reckless abuse of one of our designated emergency areas on our CCTV system and quickly passed it to the police.
“We continue to work closely with our police colleagues who enforce issues like this. Emergency areas are there for just that, an emergency.
