Rogue motorway drivers in Cheshire were targeted as part of a police clampdown on criminals.
North West Motorway Police Group’s Operation Coalition stopped 312 vehicles in one day, and uncovered 111 traffic offences.
Twenty vehicles were seized for having no insurance or drivers without a licence, and seven people arrested for offences ranging from drug possession, theft and assault.
More than 192 motorists were breathalysed during the day-long clampdown, and 97 motorists received an on the spot penalty.
The operation, which focused on the M6 and M56 in Cheshire among others, involved four Cheshire Police, the Vehicle Operating and Services Agency (VOSA), Department for Work and Pensions, HMRC, RSPCA, Trading Standards, Court Bailiffs, BT, and Cheshire East Council.
The nerve centre of the North West Motorway Police Group is the control room based in the Highway Agency′s regional control centre just off the M6 at Newton-le-Willows.
Supt Craig Thompson, from the North West Motorway Police Group, said: “The aim of the day was to highlight to everyone who uses the network the work undertaken by all the agencies involved to keep them safe and disrupt any criminal′s intent on using motorways to conduct their illegal activity.
“The law-abiding citizens who had their journeys interrupted or were spoken to at service areas understood why they had been stopped and supported what we were doing.
“Drivers have the right to use the motorway network without being concerned about their safety whether that relates to the illegal activity or organised crime gangs or illegal and unsafe drivers putting other people′s lives at risk.
“Anyone who drives on the region’s motorways can be assured if they break the law officers from the North West Motorway Police Group will not tolerate their excuses.
“The motorway network plays a very important role in the region′s economy and it is vital we keep it safe for ordinary people to use and for those people in commerce and industry to be able to go about their day to day business without fear and in safety.”
Great news.
We need it to be a regular event,
I am really shocked at these figures especially the number of drivers stopped without a licence / insurance and the number of on the spot fines.
It states “More than 192 motorists were breathalysed during the day-long clampdown, and 97 motorists received an on the spot penalty” were these 97 motorists fined because they failed the breath test or were the spot fines for other offences?