The man who cleared up all the litter along the M40

Like many drivers on Britain's litter-strewn roads, Peter Silverman was dismayed at the rubbish he saw piled on the side of the motorway.

Unlike most motorists, he decided to do something about it. If you use the M40 and you have noticed that it looks rather better recently, then you have Silverman to thank.

"I always remembered the M40 being rather nice," he said. "But my wife and I were driving up one day and we noticed that it didn't look like it used to. In fact it was appalling." Plastic bags, food packaging and worse covered the verges. "I have been concerned for years by the badly littered state of our roads. I am fed up with having to apologise to visitors from seemingly more civilised parts of the world."

The M40 became Silverman's six-lane line in the sand. In February, he complained to the Department for Transport, which tried to fob him off by blaming contractors. Not to be deterred, Silverman turned to a little known law. Under section 91 of the 1990 Environmental Protection Act, for £200 citizens can ask their local court to serve litter abatement orders on those who are responsible for tidying up. (The responsibility for the litter, of course, remains that of those who dropped it in the first place.) In the case of the M40, the official ultimately responsible for cleaning is no less a figure than Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Transport.

Wheels began to turn, not least on the litter-picking trucks that were suddenly dispatched to the M40. By the time Silverman's case against the transport secretary was heard at High Wycombe magistrate's court earlier this month, government lawyers were able to argue there were "no grounds" for a litter abatement order on the motorway, because there was no litter to abate. Silverman, not unreasonably, pointed out that this was only because he had complained in the first place, and he had the photographs to prove it. The court agreed and said transport mandarins should pay his costs.

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England calls Silverman a hero, and plans to publish a guide later this year to help others follow his lead. If you think your local road is spotless, don't be fooled. Chances are that any litter is just hidden by the summer grass. Come autumn and all, unfortunately, may be revealed.