COCKLE-PICKERS on Morecambe Bay have abandoned more than 25 vehicles some of which are embedded so far into the sand that only the roofs are visible.

Residents are calling for action to move the vans, cars and pick-up trucks, which have been left on the vast Lancashire sands by the workers.

Councillors visited the sands on Tuesday to try to tackle the problem.

The vehicles have been used to ferry the cocklers and their equipment to different areas of the bay.

Councillor Keith Budden, chairman of the Bolton-le-Sands Parish Council, is leading the visit by Lancaster city councillors to the bay.

He told BBC News Online: "There must be about 25 vehicles out there at the moment. Some of them are within a five-minute walk of the shore, but others are miles out.

"Most of them were in a bad state of repair when they were being used, and then just abandoned when they broke down.

"They are washed by the tide twice a day and are so far embedded into the sand that some of them are partially-covered.

"There is also a question of pollution with petrol, oil, diesel and all the other car parts eventually being taken by the sea."

A total of 23 Chinese cockle-pickers were drowned when they became trapped by the incoming tide in the bay in February this year.

Five people have been charged in connection with the deaths.