Play all audios:
Drivers caught 'regularly' breaking major Highway Code weight restriction face a £300 penalty. Gwent Police in Wales recorded numerous cases of drivers breaching the weight
restrictions and actively ignoring road signs in place. 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, it has been warned. 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. Newport City Councillor Chris Reeks has warned that drivers have
"regularly" flouted rules on weight restrictions. READ MORE FOREIGN OFFICE WARNS BRITS 'BARRICADE YOURSELF IN' AND 'PUT PHONE ON SILENT' 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?" Carl Williams, Chief Superintendent of Gwent
Police, said: "[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." Drivers of vehicles of over 18 tonnes gross maximum weight are being reminded that they cannot cross Cleveland Bridge on the A36 in Bath due to the Temporary
Traffic Regulation Order which has been extended until October 2025. Councillor Manda Rigby, cabinet member for Transport, said: “We have extended the weight restriction in place on the
Grade II* listed Cleveland Bridge to protect its safety and integrity whilst monitoring continues. As a structural weight restriction, the order applies to all vehicles including coaches and
therefore it is illegal to breach it if your vehicle’s gross maximum weight is over 18 tonnes. Thank you to our Trading Standards team for their work in bringing these prosecutions. “We
know that out of all of the vehicles going over the bridge from October 2022 until now, only 0.08% are exceeding the weight limit and are at risk of enforcement. Since monitoring began, we
have had 12.5 million trips over the bridge and less than 11k exceedances have been observed, companies warned and where appropriate enforced against. “We encourage drivers of larger
vehicles travelling through Bath to be aware of the plated weight and individual axle weights for their vehicle and to plan their route well in advance, so that Cleveland Bridge can be
avoided during your journey.”