A truck full of chicken and a classic car - danger drivers risking lives on the M62 revealed

Danger drivers putting lives at risk on the M62 motorway through Greater Manchester have been revealed after a month-long crackdown.

They include a driver at the wheel of a truck carrying a load of chicken - and a 3.5 tonne transporter ferrying a vintage car down south. National Highways said both were stopped and found to contravene legal weight limits.

More than 400 vehicles were stopped by police officers patrolling the M62 in unmarked HGV cabs during the month of action. Operation Pennine saw police forces travel the route between Liverpool and Hull undercover on the look-out for unsafe driving.

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Each police force - including Greater Manchester Police - were involved. The most common offence, said National Highways, was drivers caught on mobile phone at the wheel – with 86 cases found in total.

A spokesman said 34 people were found not to be wearing a seatbelt, while a further 49 were caught out breached rules around driving hours.

Police in Manchester stopped a 3.5-tonne transporter which was carrying a vintage American car to the south of England - only to be found 1,105kg overweight. Greater Manchester Police also found a van carrying chicken to be overweight.

Officers from Merseyside, Liverpool Ports Police, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire stopped a total of 435 vehicles and uncovered 375 offences.

Hundreds of thousands of drivers travel on the M62 every day and figures show that in 2022, there were 28,607 incidents on the motorway. Of those, 1,651 were collisions.

The 435 vehicles stopped during the month of action involved 175