Motorway littering doubles in a year

Highways England has collected 10,193 bags of litter so far this year from the region's roads in comparison to 8,895 for the whole of 2014. 

That works out at the equivalent of 42 bags each day in 2015, compared to 24 bags each day in 2014.

Some of the litter collected includes bed frames, mattresses, oil drums, tyres, bottles filled with urine and bags of human faeces.

Highways England is now urging motorists to help tackle the problem by bagging and binning their rubbish.

Officials said that litter thrown onto the road can cause a safety hazard to other vehicles, while the task of clearing roadside rubbish puts workers at risk. 

It can cost around £40 to collect each bag of rubbish from a motorway, roughly what it costs to fix a pothole. 

Highways England's Roger Wantling said: "Litter thrown from moving vehicles can cause accidents as well as blocking drains and creating a threat to wildlife. 

“It also puts the safety of workers collecting it at risk of being struck by passing vehicles.

"We spend millions of pounds on collecting litter from England's motorways every year — money we'd much rather spend on maintaining and improving the network. 

“We're therefore urging drivers to keep a rubbish bag in their vehicle so we can get on with the job of upgrading the motorways. Stop roadside litter — Bag It. Bin It."