Category: 0 Reviewed

With dry conditions on roadside verges, items thrown from passing vehicles such as glass bottles, cigarette butts and plastic can spark fires.

There have been 56 fires recorded on grass verges across England in the past 10 days near to the motorway and major A-road network managed by Highways England.

Recently, on the M5 in the Midlands, Highways England worked with the emergency services to support a serious fire involving a HGV that was carrying hay. The incident took place on the southbound carriageway last Thursday afternoon between junction 7 (Worcester south) and Strensham Services.

As well as having to deal with the fire on the vehicle and one on the carriageway, crews also had to damp down the nearby woods and a field beyond that, highlighting the scale of the problem.

Highways England emergency planning officer, Frank Bird, said:

Smoke from roadside fires can drift across motorways posing a hazard to drivers. We’ve seen an increase in fires on grass verges near some of our motorways, for example on the M42 in the Midlands.

With the land being so dry, it often only takes a small spark to take hold. We’d urge people to avoid throwing any items from vehicles at any time, but particularly in these hot conditions. Please take all of your litter home with you or dispose of it in a proper manner.

West Midlands Fire Service Station Commander, Marc Hudson, said:

As people would have seen across the country fire services have been dealing with a large number of grass and outdoor fires, many of these are easily prevented by people taking extra care in these very dry conditions.

With the hot, dry weather, any glass object has the potential to refract the sun’s light and it’s so easy for a fire to start from a discarded cigarette.

Littering at the side of the road significantly increases the risk of fire and has the potential to tie up valuable resources that could be used elsewhere which in turn could put people’s lives at risk.

While Highways England clears litter, picking it up close to fast-moving traffic puts road workers at risk. It is also unsightly as well as a risk to wildlife and the environment. The company urges road users to take their litter home and are working with partners such as Keep Britain Tidy to tackle the problem at source and make littering socially unacceptable.

Every year, Highways England removes about 200,000 sacks of litter from across our motorways. Clearing litter from busy roads such as motorways is a huge challenge costing time and money which could be better spent on other priorities.

Drivers travelling in this heat wave are being advised to:

• take a bottle of water with them before setting out to ensure they stay hydrated
• plan and leave plenty of time for their journeys
• check the weather forecast for their destination
• check travel conditions before setting out and, where it is safe to do so, during journeys
• ensure their cars are fit for the journey

Figures for fires on grass verges across England in the past 10 days near to the motorway and major A-road network managed by Highways England:

East region – total of 12 incidents

Road	Incidents
M25	6
A11	1
M40	1
A1M	2
M4	2

West Midlands region – total of 7 incidents

Road	Incidents
M42	2
M5	3
M6	2

South East region – total of 11 incidents

Road	Incidents
M2	1
M20	2
M3	2
M23	1
A20	1
A2	3
M25	1

North East region – total of 16 incidents

Road	Incidents
M62	9
M621	1
M1	3
A180	1
A1M	2

North West Region – total of 2 incidents

Road	Incidents
M60	1
M61	1

East Midlands Region – total of 4 incidents

Road	Incidents
M1	2
A57	1
A1	1

South West Region – total of 4 incidents

Road	Incidents
M4	2
M5	2

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

The UK will maintain environmental protections, safeguard animal welfare and support the production of high quality food, the Prime Minister will say tomorrow as she meets farmers and food producers at the Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd, Powys.

Theresa May will set out the government’s plans for a post-Brexit farming policy which works for farmers and food producers, while improving the environment, by replacing the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy – which awards subsidies based on the amount of land farmed – with a new system of public money for public goods.

In a roundtable with farmers and agricultural organisations including the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, Farmers Union Wales, NFU Cymru and the CLA, the Prime Minister will also reiterate her commitment to maintaining current funding levels until the end of this Parliament to ensure farmers have the certainty they need to plan for their business.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

This Government is committed to supporting the half a million people who work in agriculture and growing our world leading food and drinks sector, which contributes over £100 billion to the UK economy. But we also need to protect the farmed environment for future generations.

Leaving the EU presents us with a unique opportunity to transform our food, farming and environmental policies so we can have a healthy and prosperous agricultural industry that is fit for the future, and helps us to leave the environment in a better place than we found it.

Scrapping the Common Agricultural Policy, and introducing a simpler system which provides funds in return for public goods, like improving water quality, reducing emissions and planting wild flower meadows to boost biodiversity, is fundamental to our new approach.

I want to make the most of the freedoms provided by Brexit to design a new scheme that is less bureaucratic, and does away with the overly prescriptive information farmers currently have to provide to apply for grants.

I commend our hard working farmers up and down the country, and here in Wales, who deserve better than the fundamentally flawed CAP system. That is why I want to hear from them today about what they need so we deliver a farming policy which supports the whole industry.

And while our proposals are for England only, I look forward to working with the Farming unions, Welsh Government and stakeholders to best serve our farmers here as they develop a scheme specific to Wales.

During her visit the Prime Minister will also meet with the Wales Young Farmers Club, and stall-holders in the Food Hall, sponsored by Food is GREAT, alongside setting out measures from the 25 Year Environment Plan to protect the nation’s countryside and steps to bring forward the first Environment Bill in over 20 years.

There’s just one week to go to the 31 July tax credit renewal deadline and HMRC is urging over a million customers yet to renew to do it online today because this is the quickest and easiest way.

Angela MacDonald, Director General of Customer Services, said:

We’ve improved our services so customers can renew their tax credits at a time that’s convenient to them but the 31 July deadline is fast approaching.

There is a wealth of support available at all times of the day and night from HMRC via GOV.UK, the app, or Alexa to help customers get their renewal right.

I urge customers who have yet to renew their tax credits to do so as soon as possible, to avoid their payments being stopped.

Tax credits help working families with targeted financial support. HMRC has made it easier than ever to renew and more than 59% of customers have renewed online or via the HMRC App. The most popular times of day to renew by phone are between 10am to 12pm and 4:30 to 6:30pm, but customers renew any time – day or night – through HMRC’s online services.

This year, HMRC has also launched a customer-focused service via Amazon Alexa to help answer some of the most frequently asked questions about tax credits renewals. Customers with Amazon Alexa-enabled devices can ask Alexa to open HMRC and ask for direct links to information and renewals.

Last year 320,000 customers had their payments stopped or altered because they missed the deadline to inform HMRC of changes to their circumstances. These include changes to working hours, income and childcare costs.
Online help and information on renewing tax credits is available GOV.UK and via HMRC’s customer service Twitter feed @HMRCcustomers. Support is also available via the tax credits helpline.

Claimants can get help and information on renewing tax credits:

• on GOV.UK
• by tweeting @HMRCcustomers or posting on our Facebook page with general queries
• using HMRC’s App, which is available on the App Store or Google Play Store
• using the HMRC service on Amazon Alexa
• using our online forum (click on Tax Credits and You)
• through HMRC’s webchat help service
• by calling the tax credits helpline: 0345 300 3900

Further information

1. The deadline for people to renew their tax credits is 31 July 2018. Failure to renew before the deadline will mean payments are stopped and customers may have to repay the money they have received since April.
2. HMRC has developed a new customer-focused service via Amazon Alexa. Customers can request information about renewing tax credits. No personal information is stored on Alexa and customers cannot renew their tax credits using Alexa. If a customer requests further information via an SMS, the mobile phone number is stored for 6 hours and then automatically deleted.
3. Follow HMRC’s Press Office on Twitter @HMRCpressoffice
4. HMRC’s Flickr channel can be found here