Specialist divers used cranes to haul 14 vehicles – four of them stolen – from the river near an old coal loading station at the former Fryston Colliery site. Five of the cars could not be identified because of their bad condition.

Officers from Wakefield Council's anti-social behaviour unit and West Yorkshire Police carried out the clean up so the stretch of water could be used for canoeing and sailing.

Coun Olivia Rowley, cabinet member for community safety and cohesion, said: "This kind of action is extremely important as it tackles environmental pollution and makes a difference to our areas of natural beauty.

"We want to make it clear that dumping vehicles is completely unacceptable and when caught people will have to face the

consequences."