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Last Updated: Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 05:21 GMT 06:21 UK
Highway patrol on West motorways
Highways Agency Traffic Officers are to patrol the motorways of Avon and Somerset when a new service is launched across the South West.

The new centre based at Avonmouth, near Bristol, will be responsible for 209 miles of motorway across Wiltshire, Avon & Somerset, Gloucs, and Devon.

Traffic officers undertake high- visibility patrols and work with the police to keep traffic moving.

The Highways Agency has invested �9.3m to launch the scheme in the South West.

Traffic officers' duties
Assisting the police with motorway accidents
Removing damaged and abandoned vehicles
Clearing debris from the road
Undertaking high visibility patrols
Providing mobile / temporary road closures
Supporting the police in their duties

Staff at the control centre will deploy traffic officers based at three outstations which the Highways Agency says will ensure a quick response to incidents.

The first South West patrols are expected to begin in early December and will cover the M4, M5, M48, M49 and M32 across Avon & Somerset.

The service will then be expanded in 2006 to cover the M5 and M4 in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Devon.

The service was introduced in the West Midlands last year and traffic officers are also operating in the North West, North East and the South East.


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