Vehicle fire shuts one lane of M4 between junctions 13 at Chieveley and 12 at Theale
Disruption expected on the busy motorway for several hours
Sarah Bosley
A vehicle fire has closed one lane of the M4 in West Berkshire.
The incident is blocking lane one and the hard shoulder of the eastbound carriageway, between junction 13 at Chieveley and junction 12 at Theale.
It is not known if anyone has been injured in the incident.
The motorway is not expected to fully reopen until around 4.30pm. ); document.write( ); document.write( );
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St Patrick s Day celebrations on Zoom for Newbury Vaccination Centre s Volunteer of the Week Roisin
Meeter and greeter is a pocket rocket superstar
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“I HEARD about the vaccination centre in December and immediately put myself forward to help,” said Roisin Teggart, this week’s Newbury Vaccination Centre’s Volunteer of the Week.
“I don’t have any healthcare specialist experience, but I recognised that this was something I could do for the community in these extraordinary times.”
Mrs Teggart, who lives in Chieveley, had recently taken voluntary redundancy from Bayer and with more free time she was more than happy to step up.
In total, five companies had clandestine fines outstanding. Three days earlier on Monday, March 1, in Newport Pagnell, 60 lorries were searched with six companies having clandestine fines outstanding. No people were found in any of the lorries that were searched in the region, but officials and officers discovered that 22 lorries had outstanding clandestine fines for previously being found with people on the lorry following a border crossing.
Several lorries were checked during the week (stock photo) As a result, £96,190 was paid in fines to Border Force, with two lorries being seized. A further £100,000 in clandestine fines were also recovered following an operation that ran through February.
Hampshire police crackdown on immigration crime across South HAMPSHIRE police have stopped 200 lorries and enforced over £70,000 worth of fines in an effort to tackle organised immigration crime. Between March 1 and March 5, specialist teams from Hampshire police have been working with Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, Bedfordshire Police and Thames Valley Police in and outside of Hampshire to raise awareness of immigration crime. Over the five days of targeted action, police worked to disrupt organised crime gangs, encourage hauliers to implement better security and identify and protect those found to be trafficked. A total of 200 lorries were stopped as a result, over £70,000 of fines were dealt out and one lorry was seized as the driver refused to pay the fine.
Lorries searched for people at Oxford service station FORTY lorries were searched at Oxford service station in a police operation to stop people smuggling. Thames Valley Police officers worked with Border Force and Immigration Enforcement to stop HGV drivers and tell them about how lorries being driven from ports into the UK may be targeted by organised criminals looking to get illegal immigrants into the country. Over the five days last week, 275 hauliers were stopped at service stations at Newport Pagnell, Chieveley, Waterstock, Beaconsfield and Reading. No humans were found in any of the lorries during the searches but after checks it was revealed that 22 of them had unpaid clandestine fines for previously being found with people on the lorry at border crossings.