A CONVOY of what was believed to be "nuclear weapons" which travelled to Scotland on the M6 has been met with anger by campaigners.
Members of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) group have released photographs and video of a Ministry of Defence (MoD) convoy on the motorway.
Campaigners believe the convoy was transporting nuclear warheads between the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire and the Trident nuclear weapons system base in the west of Scotland.
The video footage shows the two-vehicle convoy, escorted by police vehicles, heading northbound passing junction 20 for the M56 last Tuesday.
Further photos were taken a day later near to junction 36 in Cumbria at around 9.20am as the convoy continued its journey.
It is believed to have been parked at Weeton Barracks near Kirkham in Lancashire overnight, and to have continued towards Scotland on the M6.
CND member Philip Gilligan said: “These very dangerous convoys seem to be carrying nuclear warheads past our homes, schools and hospitals with ever increasing frequency.
“At the same time, those of us who are most likely to be affected by an accident involving one are given little, if any, information about when they will pass our homes, or about the specific dangers involved.
“At a minimum, we need to know if and exactly how we can begin to protect ourselves and our children from the alpha emitting plutonium and uranium particles which could be dispersed if an explosion resulted from an accident involving one of these MoD carriers
“Better still, these the convoys should be taken off our roads altogether. We do not need nuclear missiles, and we would all be much safer without them on our roads.”
In response, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said that in more than 50 years of transporting nuclear material by road in the UK, there has never been an incident that has posed any radiation hazard to the public or the environment.
They said: “Defence nuclear materials are transported only when necessary, and the safety and security of the public are the highest priority.
“All convoy operations follow strict and safe procedures, and the MOD is equipped to respond to any incident, no matter how unlikely.”
The spokesman added that all convoy operations are conducted by highly trained personnel under strict operational and procedural conditions.
This is part of the MoD’s commitment to ‘maintaining the highest standards of safety and security’ throughout the operation.
