Operation to deny criminals the use of our roads

Officers from Hampshire and Thames Valley’s Joint Roads Policing Unit took part in a large scale operation yesterday (Wednesday) to target uninsured drivers and deny criminals the use of the road network.

During the day’s action, ten vehicles were seized by Hampshire & Thames Valley officers – three for having no insurance and seven for having no Vehicle Excise Licence.

Another two uninsured vehicles were insured at the roadside and four vehicles were taxed at the roadside.

One person was arrested for failing to provide a name or address suitable for summons for having no insurance or MOT.

Fixed Penalty Notices were also issued to two drivers for having no MOT and a red light offence leading up the M25.

The operation involved all the forces surrounding the M25 collaborating their roads policing resources for one day (November 14) to cover the 117 miles of the M25. Hampshire and Thames Valley were operating between Eastbound between junctions 17 and 15.

Officers from Hampshire, Thames Valley, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, Metropolitan, Bedfordshire, Herts and Cambs and Essex Police were all involved in this co-ordinated tactical operation that hasn’t been seen on this scale in over five years.

Roads Policing Chief Inspector James Upton said: “This operation is about road safety and denying criminals the use of the roads. We have a vision that no person should be killed or injured in a collision involving an uninsured vehicle.

“It has been a number of years since forces came together like this to tackle the same problem at the same time.This has been four months in the planning, but we hope the success of this will lead to further joint working opportunities.”

Roads Policing Inspector Simon Hills added: “In my experience, drivers who willingly use vehicles without insurance are often committing secondary offences. These range in seriousness from minor road traffic offences, to driving whilst disqualified and other crimes such as drug dealing and burglary.”

Neil Drane, Head of Enforcement Services at MIB added: “The opportunity to work with all the collaborated police forces on this exercise has been great. Socially it’s unacceptable to drive without insurance and the honest driver is funding this.”

A team of 12 police motorcycles and 27 cars were involved in the operation that ran between 10am to 4pm.

Across all forces:

• 44 vehicles were processed for No Insurance (Seized, reinsured or errors amended at the roadside)
• 8 arrests for a variety of offences from Drug Drive to Theft of Motor Vehicle
• 14 vehicles were processed for other offences including no licence and no Vehicle Excise Licence
• A number of other road traffic offences enforced including mobile phones, having not MOTs and other offences such as having bald tyres, defective lights and cracked windscreens.

This was a coordinated ANPR operation which supported this week’s enforcement #OpDriveInsured from the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB). During this operation, on average around 25,000 vehicles were checked an hour (5,000 at each check site); with around 400 alerts an hour.