UPDATED: Officers detect driver offences during Op Tramline

UPDATED: Photos added. Warwickshire Police detected 63 offences in just two days of Operation Tramline on the M6, M40 and A46 in Warwickshire on Monday 29 April and Thursday 3 May 2024. 

This included a woman driving at speed on the M40 southbound not in proper control of her car whilst she applied makeup and a van driver eating ‘fast food’ totally hands free along the M6 Northbound whilst steering with his knees.

Another van driver decided to film the Op Tramline supercab with his handheld mobile phone whilst driving along the M6 Northbound.  He chose the wrong supercab to film as this is precisely the type of offence Operational Patrol Officers aim to detect.

Officers were observing him and other drivers from a specially adapted National Highways supercab.  The elevated position allows officers to capture footage of some of the most dangerous driving offences possible known as the ‘Fatal 4’ including not wearing a seatbelt and using a handheld mobile phone whilst driving. Once an offence is identified, an unmarked police car intercepts the offending driver.

Offences detected include:-

• 22 mobile phone offences
• 18 seatbelt offences
• 5 speeding offences
• 3 drivers not in proper control of their vehicle

The following offences were also detected:-

• 6 no insurance and 5 vehicles were seized under Section 165 of the Road Traffic Act
• 4 vehicle condition and use offences. This includes excessive window tints, modifications and defects to the vehicle.  One vehicle was prohibited from being driven until the defect was rectified.
• 1 driver dealt with for driving otherwise in accordance with a licence
• 1 driver has been summoned to court for driving whilst disqualified
• 1 theft of a motor vehicle resulting in the arrest of the driver and passenger. The vehicle was recovered. Enquiries are ongoing.
• One driver received a graduated fixed penalty. These are used mainly for breaching commercial vehicle drivers’ hours and overloading and penalties are graduated to reflect factors such as the length of time spent driving over the legal limit.

Whilst 30 Traffic Offence Reports were given to drivers, words of advice were given to 28 drivers including one van driver who hogged the middle lane for 12 miles and failed to move over when lane 1 was empty. 

Sergeant Scott Good said “Most drivers who use our roads every day are safe and sensible behind the wheel, but there are some who are putting themselves and others at risk by simply ignoring the law. That’s where Operation Tramline is invaluable in helping to change driver behaviours and encourage compliance with driving laws. 

“Please be assured that we will continue to conduct regular roads policing operations to make our roads as safe as possible for the majority of law abiding road users.“

National Highways Assistant Regional Safety Co-ordinator Marie Biddulph said “It is always alarming to see there are people on our roads who continue to put themselves and others at risk by not using a seatbelt, using their mobile phone or engaging in even riskier behaviours. At National Highways, we believe no-one should be harmed while travelling or working on our roads and we need drivers to play their part in achieving that. Through Operation Tramline, and working in close partnership with our colleagues in Warwickshire Police, we want to make people think twice about their driving behaviour in the knowledge that the vehicle next to them may well be one of our unmarked HGV cabs.”