Drivers faced with 'obstacle course' on A38

636 REPORTS OF SCATTERED DEBRIS REPORTED IN 3 YEARS

- CARL EVE

DRIVERS on the Plymouth stretch of the A38 have been confronted with a startling array of debris and obstacles over the last three years, a Freedom of Information Request has revealed.

Between September 2020 and August 2023, Devon and Cornwall Police were alerted to a staggering 636 reports of items on the A38 between just the Royal Albert Bridge at St Budeaux to Deep Lane at Plympton.

The Herald asked the force to list what kind of items concerned drivers and passengers who had reported "highway disruptions" in that time and the results are eye-opening. Along with the expected mixture of animals both alive and deceased - which wander across the Devon Expressway, there's a host of other items which have fallen from cars and lorries, have been blown, dumped or thrown onto the A38.

However, police said the list omits incidents where police were called to deal with floods or smoke, incidents where there was a broken down vehicle, or incidents where the disruption was due to traffic lights not working although there are no traffic lights through the Plymouth stretch of the A38.