Mobile cranes and some larger plant are covered by Special Types General Orders (STGO) which restrict the hours they can be transported mainly during peak traffic times.

But a growing number of police forces are extending the travel embargoes with vast swathes of the country facing restrictions across the Easter holiday.

Forces banning big machines from the road include Hampshire, Lancashire, South Yorkshire, Thames Valley and West Midlands.

One fuming plant boss said: “It seems totally arbitary which areas are doing this but it knocks out the whole road network for us – we can’t drive round a whole county enforcing this.

“I don’t get what they are trying to achieve – it just smacks of some officials meddling in something they don’t really understand or care about the consequences.

“The whole situation is a farce.”