A MAJOR player in the Gwent Police vehicle recovery contract has pulled out of the scheme.

Dragon Rescue have told Gwent Police they no longer want to be part of the contract in a major show of support for Walls and WG Lane.

Gwent Police Authority decided last month to exclude both Walls and Lane from the contract from midnight on December 31.

Dragon's decision means Gwent will have just one recovery firm - Hillcroft - with the necessary equipment and authorisation to attend motorway accidents. Steve Powell, the managing director of Dragon Rescue, said: "I believe that without Walls, Lane and Dragon on the contract there may not be enough facilities. "If it was a permanent contract we would be interested in applying and would invest in even more equipment.

"You get some very heavy problems on the M4 in Gwent, and you need the necessary equipment to cope with that."

Dragon are now working a notice period and will withdraw their services from Gwent on January 18.

Malcolm Williams, proprietor of Hillcroft, said: "We were sorry to learn that Dragon have now decided to pull out.

"Dragon obviously feel that they are unable to cope with the competing demands that have been forthcoming in this contract. We felt that by working in partnership with them, we were able to share the workload."

Gwent Police are to reactivate early next year a recovery contract awarded to ACM Traffic Support Services.

ACM are based in Newport Pagnell, and will act as a call handler from the police control room to the recovery firms. While this is being established the firms on the current temporary contract with the exception of Walls and Lane have been asked to renew their tenure.

Meanwhile, Walls have vowed to fight to remain on the contract despite the police ruling. Their police liaison officer, Dean Smith said they were currently "considering their response" .

Gwent Police will not publicly say why the two firms are being thrown off the scheme, stating only that the matter is "contractual".

*PICTURED: Steve Powell, managing director of Dragon Rescue - the company is to pull out of the contract with Gwent Police to recover crashed vehicles from the M4, leaving one firm to cover the area's motorway.