A criminal investigation is underway after five large vehicles including at least one truck have been abandoned in a lay-by.

Concerns have been over “contaminated waste” left inside several vehicles in a layby on the A413 just outside Amersham near School Lane heading towards Great Missenden.

Buckinghamshire Council has confirmed it is aware of the vehicles but has described their removal as a “complex operation”.

It is also said that a possible lane closure may be needed when the vehicles are removed.

Thomas Broom, Buckinghamshire Council’s cabinet member for climate change and environment added that the council are working on “bringing to justice those who have dumped these trucks”.

Pictures on Fix My Street show a large vehicle dumped at the site with first reports coming in May.

Local residents have also raised concerns about what has been left inside the vehicles.

Pamilla Tricker said: “I believe it was the first reported in May and it's still there.

“We are worried in case there is some hazardous waste in there.

“The back roll-up door has been raised three or four inches and it's absolutely packed with stuff. We don’t know what.”

Ken Ferguson said: “The trailer has been there for approximately three months and shows no markings or identification.

“It would seem to have been reported several times to Buckinghamshire Council without action.

“Has any action been taken to check whether this container contains waste which is hazardous or toxic?”

Thomas Broom, Buckinghamshire Council’s cabinet member for climate change and environment said: “Unfortunately removing these abandoned vehicles is a complex operation and is therefore taking longer than we would like.

“There are five vehicles in total, all of which are overweight and not roadworthy; a contractor has been instructed to remove them but they will need emptying first, with the contents possibly needing to be treated as contaminated waste, and will require traffic management and possible lane closures when this gets underway.

“I want to reassure people that this is moving forward, there is also a criminal investigation underway due to the offences that have been committed.

“Ultimately, we are continuing to work towards clearing these vehicles and their contents and bringing to justice those who have dumped these trucks in what is a significant act of fly-tipping or vehicle abandonment on an industrial scale.”

It comes after leader of Buckinghamshire Council Martin Tett has pledged to get tougher on fly-tippers as he criticised the lenient sentences handed down by magistrates for the crime.

Martin Tett made the comments during a wide-ranging speech at the Conservative-run council’s annual general meeting in May.

Addressing a packed council chamber in Aylesbury, he said: “Magistrates are just too easy on fly-tippers.

"It is too easy to say, ‘look I stopped the car, took all those sacks of rubbish out and those old tyres.

“I really intended to put them back in, but I just drove off, forgetting them’. It is nonsense but somehow magistrates, it seems, believe people.”

The council makes around 30 prosecutions a year for fly-tipping and collects around £50,000 in fines annually.

The Bucks Free Press has approached Thames Valley Police for a statement.