Police issue dispersal order following antisocial behaviour on A53 Hodnet Bypass
West Mercia Police has issued a fresh dispersal order on the A53 Hodnet Bypass after people using horse boxes disrupted traffic for hours.
The order follows an incident when police responded to reports of several vehicles with horse boxes causing an obstruction across the road last Saturday.
The new order will be effective over the coming weekend (Saturday February 24 and Sunday February 25), and provides powers to the police to exclude members of the public who cause anti-social behaviour, or where there is a reasonable belief that they may cause anti-social behaviour or criminality in the locality.
Safer Neighbourhood Inspector Claire Greenaway said: “We are unfortunately having to issue a dispersal order once again following an incident last Saturday on the A53 Hodnet Bypass, where a number of people participated in anti-social behaviour.
“We will not tolerate this type of behaviour on one of the county’s busiest roads, which saw a small minority of people causing issues for the majority of road users going about their business. The dispersal order provides police officers additional powers to exclude these people from the area if they choose to act in an inappropriate way.”
Three men – aged 24, 37 and 40 – who were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance following last Saturday’s incident have since been released. The 37-year-old was released with no further action taken and the 24-year-old and 40-year-old were released on bail.
