A large quantity of grapes which spilled on to the road at a major intersection near Clyde made conditions treacherous for motorists on Saturday morning and almost caused several crashes, Alexandra police said.
"We had several phone calls from motorists about near-accidents because the road was extremely slippery," Sergeant Ian Kerrisk said.
A large shipment of recently harvested fruit was obviously being transported from a vineyard on a commercial vehicle but the person responsible for the spill at the intersection of Springvale Rd and State Highway 8 had left the scene.
"No effort was made to clean the road or alert the authorities and I'm hugely disappointed by that. It put the safety of other road users at risk."
Volunteer firefighters cleared the road by hosing it down.
It would be difficult to trace the owner of the grapes, Sgt Kerrisk said.
