The Office for Nuclear Regulation's (ONR) inspectors attended the checks in Northamptonshire, Suffolk and Essex during May to ensure vehicles were adhering to laws for carrying dangerous goods.
ONR attended the checkpoint on the A14 in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and on the M11 motorway in Harlow, Essex, as part of the four-day Operation Chemical, focusing on the carriage of dangerous goods which includes items that are radioactive, toxic, corrosive, flammable and explosive.
Police forces attending this operation included Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex, assisted by Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.
In total, 86 vehicles were stopped, 41 of them carrying dangerous goods, with 16 of these served warnings or advisory notices, four handed fixed penalty notices and one which required further enquiries regarding radioactive shipment.
Russell Bowden, an ONR Transport Competent Authority inspector, who attended the operation, said: “This is part of our continuing efforts to remind dutyholders to be compliant with all Class 7 regulations before they start their journey.
“We will be part of more roadside operations in the future, so we strongly encourage all carriers to ensure they are complying with the law.”
Christopher Jones, an ONR Principal Inspector within the Transport Competent Authority, joined a multi-agency team on the M1 motorway near Rugby, Northamptonshire, using a Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency lay-by facility close to Junction 18.
Four police forces were involved in that operation - Northamptonshire, Sussex, Surrey and Essex - along with representatives from the Department for Transport and the Highways Agency.
ONR has approximately 20 agency agreements in place out of the 43 police forces in England and Wales which grant authority for constabularies to stop vehicles on ONR's behalf thought to be carrying radioactive materials, known as Class 7 dangerous goods.
On the M1, the five-hour operation led to approximately 20 vehicles being pulled over for checks, with prohibition notices issued for marking and labelling discrepancies and a deferred prohibition notice for a vehicle which had an out-of-date fire extinguisher.