A lorry driver ended up with a fine and a costs bill of nearly £600 after ignoring a temporary weight limit in a South Gloucestershire village.

Mark Sainsbury, 43, took a short cut through a housing estate in Charfield in a 44-tonne lorry instead of following a signed diversion route set up when Wessex Water was replacing a sewer earlier this year.

The work involved closing the main road through the village and the temporary 7.5 tonne weight restriction was imposed to prevent large vehicles being driven along residential streets.

Sainsbury, of Almondsbury, was caught driving when South Gloucestershire Council trading standards officers and police carried out a spot check in response to complaints from villagers that the limit was being ignored by some drivers.

He admitted the offence at North Avon Magistrates Court and was fined £175 and ordered to pay £400 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Trading Standards senior enforcement officer, Alan Cahill, said: "Officers regularly conduct enforcement checks to ensure drivers of heavy vehicles do not breach the weight restrictions the council has imposed on our roads and bridges. If drivers take an illegal short cut, they may well find themselves caught out."

Heather Goddard, the council's executive member for community services, said: "The routes that these large vehicles were taking to avoid the road closure were just small residential roads where children play and elderly people cross and they would generally not expect lorry drivers to be in the neighbourhood."