Highways bosses have pledged to clean up rubbish on the verges of a major road, which have been likened to a “third-world squatter camp”.

Drivers on the A249 heading towards the Stockbury roundabout between Sittingbourne and Maidstone have spotted plastic waste strewn along the stretch of dual carriageway.

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Footage shows the amount of rubbish left on the verges leading to the National Highway’s £100 million works on the Stockbury flyover which is still ongoing after three years.

One motorist, who did not want to be named, told KentOnline: “I drive along that road every day at snail’s pace because of the roadworks and it has made me increasingly angry seeing the rubbish.

"For a good mile or so, the verge has resembled a third-world squatter camp with rubbish of all sorts strewn about the place.”

Another driver said: "You go to France and most other countries and the place is spotless, they'd go mad if they saw what thousands of motorists a day are seeing here.

"It's not as if the highways authorities don't see the rubbish there, as there are loads of them down the road at Stockbury sorting the flyover.

“It's nothing short of a disgrace."

National Highways have promised to carry out work to clear the rubbish, starting on Monday, February 12.

The scheduled clean-up from the Grovehurst roundabout to the Stockbury roundabout, both Maidstone-bound and Sheppey-bound, will take place with lane and slip road closures.

A spokesman for the agency called littering a “social problem” and that it is “working hard to tackle it”.

He said: “We comply with our duties under the Environmental Protection Act with our people litter-picking almost every day.

“To keep them safe we have to close motorway lanes, delaying drivers and costing millions of pounds.

“We are also trialling AI-enabled cameras to gather evidence to provide to local authorities who carry out enforcement.

“But if people don’t drop litter in the first place it wouldn’t need to be picked up – so we urge road users to take their litter home.”