Police have handed out fines to several wedding guests after a convoy was stopped on the A4 motorway between Amsterdam and The Hague.

The 15 cars were pulled over as they passed Hoofddorp after other motorists reported they had set off flares and disrupted traffic on the road.

A 21-year-old man was fined for transporting a large number of flares in the boot of his car, while three hired cars were confiscated because the drivers were not named in the hire contract. ‘The car hire company wasn’t pleased,’ said a police spokesman.

Disruptive wedding convoys have been a growing source of tension in Dutch cities in recent years. Rotterdam is considering bringing in restrictions, including a requirement for wedding parties to submit their details to police in advance, to limit the effect on traffic.

Two weeks ago a police officer in the city was punched to the ground by a wedding guest after he pulled over a convoy to warn the drivers about anti-social behaviour.

‘I want to make clear that we need to put a stop to these kinds of excesses,’ said city mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb at the time. ‘We don’t mind people having parties, but it has to be orderly and within the rules.’