Drivers who continue to flout the three-tonne weight limit on Marlow Bridge will be “turned around and sent back” in a crackdown that a top Marlow police officer predicts will be “unpopular.”

While the chaos caused by the bridge closure last year is a distant memory for many drivers, police are preparing to tackle the ongoing problem of overweight cars in a bid to prevent a repeat of the incident.

The bridge – a main route for commuters – was closed for two months after a 37-tonne HGV tried to cross it in September, damaging the weight restrictions and stirring up fears for the historic bridge’s future. 

Sergeant Robin Hughes, part of the local policing team for Marlow, said a survey on the bridge found that a staggering 33 per cent of vehicles using it were over the maximum weight limit.

Plans have now been put in place for an “education programme” to be carried out, after which drivers will be slapped with fines.

Sgt Hughes said the programme will start “in a couple of weeks” and last for around six weeks.

He said: “It won’t make us popular, but we are not here to be popular. Everything over the three tonne limit will be turned around and sent back.

“That will be Range Rovers, your Volvos and Land Rovers, they will all be turned around. The retailers will not be very happy and members of the public who live in Marlow will not be happy, but you can’t have it both ways.

“A lot of people just want us to turn the vans around and let the Range Rovers come over, but I'm sorry, we are police - that is not the way we operate.”

The programme will see officers stationed at both ends of the bridge for around 90-minute periods.

Sgt Hughes added: “We had a choice, we either turn and blind eye and let it happen, keep half of the people happy, or do something about it and keep the other half happy. We decided that the regulations are the regulations and we will enforce them.

“Hopefully we will be able to do this every day. There will be a lot of unhappy Range Rover drivers.”

The plans were revealed at a meeting of the Marlow Community Forum on Wednesday, January 25.

Liz Lorente, from Transition Town Marlow, welcomed the plans, adding: “Whenever I cycle over the bridge, I always see overweight vehicles on it.”

And just minutes after the bridge reopened to traffic after extensive safety tests were carried out, Transport for Bucks workers had to rush in and stop an overweight van from crossing the river.