Warwickshire Police and partners join together to support national campaign to improve the safety of commercial vehicles on our roads

Warwickshire Police have detected 66 driver offences during a two day operation on 15 and 16 March as part of the NPCC national Commercial Vehicle Week of Action (15-21) to improve the safety of commercial vehicles on our roads

During the operation, police intercept motorcyclists patrolled the motorway network to identify commercial vehicles from 3.5 tons upwards and other vehicles of interest and brought them in to stop check sites at Warwick Services on the M40 and Corley Services on the M6. 

Officers and staff from Warwickshire Police’s Commercial Vehicle Unit, Operation Patrol Unit and Special Constabulary and partners including Highways England, DVSA, Border Force and Immigration Service then spoke to drivers whilst examining vehicles for load security and weight compliance, and checking tax, insurance, tyres, driver hours and the general condition of the vehicle.

As the operation focussed on commercial vehicles, the vast majority of the 66 driver offences were detected on commercial vehicles with only four car drivers being brought in to the check site for excessive tinted windows, speed and tyre issues.

14 commercial vehicles were found to be overweight

12 commercial vehicle drivers were brought in to the check site as officers were concerned about the safety of their loads

2 drivers were believed to be using a mobile phone whilst driving

2 car drivers were stopped for speeding

1 driver was not wearing a seatbelt

9 drivers were brought in due to the condition of their vehicle such as tyres or the use of the vehicle making it unsafe

1 commercial vehicle driver had no movement order

4 tachograph offences were discovered

2 drivers had no insurance

2 drivers had no driving licence and one driver was disqualified and officers will be looking to prosecute his company, as police believe despite knowing their employee was disqualified allowed him to continue driving.

1 driver’s vehicle had no MOT

5 drivers had excessive tints

During the operation officers also responded to a road traffic collision where one person was injured.

Officers were also able to report concerns to Environmental Health regarding fresh meats being moved in unrefrigerated transport.

Once a vehicle had been checked and there were no outstanding issues, the driver was allowed to proceed on his/her journey. However nine of the 66 vehicles stopped were prohibited from continuing their journey until the offence such as the weight or fault was corrected.

Speaking about the Operation Sergeant Shaun Bridle said

“Whilst we continue to be shocked at the number of offences we find being committed on our road network, this only strengthens the enthusiasm of our officers to take part in any operations that help improve the public’s safety on our roads.

“We will continue to take every opportunity to work with partners to help educate drivers to improve compliance with road safety legislation and to remove dangerous vehicles from our roads to make them safer for everyone."