One arrested and drivers reported in A49 multi agency operation
One man was arrested on suspicion of robbery and dozens of vehicles stop-checked by police during a multi-agency operation in South Shropshire to disrupt travelling criminals and improve road safety.
Over the course of five hours on Thursday 6th December 2012, the police ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) system picked up 2,600 registrations and resulted in more than 25 vehicles pulled over as a result of associated intelligence.
Although the operation on the A49 at Craven Arms was planned as part of a nationwide crackdown on metal thefts, many of those stopped were dealt with for driving offences.
Sergeant Adrian Woolley, who led about 20 officers from the police, VOSA (Vehicle and Ordinance Services Agency), the Environment Agency, Trading Standards, the Benefits Agency and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), said in addition to dealing with offences, their presence also served to ‘disrupt' the activity of those who may have been looking to commit crime.
Officers pulled over one vehicle and arrested a 22-year-old man wanted on suspicion of robbing a taxi driver in Condover in October 2012. He remains in custody at Shrewsbury Police Station awaiting interview.
One driver was reported for careless driving, while two others received a fine and 3 penalty points for using a mobile phone while driving.
"One of those using the phone was a taxi driver and the other had also been stopped and reported for speeding and having no MOT just half an hour before he was spotted again on the phone," Sergeant Woolley added.
Two cars were seized due to no insurance, one truck and trailer was dealt with for being overweight and seven drivers issued vehicle defect forms for problems such as defective lights and damaged windscreens.
In addition, VOSA issued a further eight prohibition notices, which orders unroadworthy vehicles to be taken off the road immediately and not driven again until the defects have been repaired.
Trading Standards dealt with one driver for carrying waste without an operators licence and benefit officers dealt with another suspected of claiming benefits while working.
Two vehicles - one a car containing a woman taking her young child to school and the other a minibus - were found to be running on red diesel by HMRC officers and the drivers reported.
"The main aim of the operation was to disrupt travelling criminals, to let them know we are out on the streets, that we know who they are and they will be dealt with if they have committed a crime," said Sergeant Woolley.
"It was a very successful operation and is just one part of our ongoing work to tackle crime and improve road safety in Shropshire."
Checks were also made on various items in vehicles such as power tools, using UV lights to look for property marking and checking serial numbers against police systems.
Sergeant Woolley reminded people to always make a note of serial numbers for valuable property and think about marking it with a UV pen or other commercially available security product such as SmartWater.
"That way, if we do come across items we think may be stolen, we can quickly check and eventually reunite them with their owners," he said.
