Anti-litter campaigners say the country's motorways and A-roads have been left to look like a "filthy, littered dump" with bottles, packets and rubbish piling up.
Videos and pictures of the M6, M58, and also of the M66 have been shared by campaign group Clean Up Britain in recent weeks, showing litter strewn across verges at the side of the carriageway.
The group is calling on Highways England, local councils and the litter-dropping general public to reverse the trend which has left public area looking 'like an open cast tip', reports LancsLive.
According to reports, a leading law firm has been instructed to write to the government agency warning that it is ‘in flagrant and systemic breach of its duties’ for failing to clear the roads. Highways England has defended its record, saying it spends millions of pounds each year on litter picking work.
Clean Up Britain most recently highlighted the example of the M6 and M58 interchange in West Lancashire as a particularly bad example. In the video, a constant stream of rubbish can be seen running all the way along the grass verge at the side of the road. Similar footage was shared from by the M66 in Bury.
In their most recent post, the group wrote: "Ladies and Gentlemen… WELCOME TO A FILTHY, LITTERED, DUMP CALLED BRITAIN. This time, the M58/M6 interchange in Lancashire. Let’s call a spade a spade - we’ve got to do something about the millions of selfish, anti-social and lazy people in our country who litter. BUT WHAT?"
John Read, the group's founder, said: "We go around the country and we film motorways and major A roads just to show the public because this is the important thing - the British public need to see what a disgusting, filthy, rancid country they live in. It's really sad to say that but it's true.
"And we seem to lost our pride and respect in Britain. We need desperately to get it back because at the moment the country looks like an open cast tip. It really does, it looks like a rubbish bin. We can do so much better than that but we need to start really understanding it's a major problem."
National Highways says it regularly carries out litter picking activities across its motorways at a cost of millions of pounds each year. It said it would rather see this money spent on improving the network if the problem did not exist.
Head of Customer Journeys, Freda Rashdi, added: “Roadside litter is not just unsightly but it’s a threat to wildlife and the environment and it can also be a safety hazard for drivers, can block drains and picking it up puts road workers at risk.
"Litter collections on our A roads are the responsibility of local authorities and hopefully we can get the message across that litter not only impacts people’s lives but also has a significant economic impact for our councils across the region.”
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