Bogus scrap collectors and metal thieves were targeted in an operation designed to thwart their crimes as figures soar with the rising price of scrap metal.

Police teamed up with Trading Standards and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency to carry out checks on flatbed lorries and vans and other transit vans.

They targeted drivers across Otley, Horsforth, Guiseley, Yeadon, Rawdon and Pool-in-Wharfedale with vehicles taken to two sites to be checked over.

The first site was in the rear car park of Harry Ramsden’s in Guiseley, and the second at the former Clariant works site in Calverley Lane, Horsforth.

The vans and their drivers were then examined for everything from mechanical faults to benefits and identity fraud, with Leeds City Council’s environmental action team checking for waste-carrying licences and HM Revenue and Customs officers testing for red diesel.

Sergeant Jane Franks of the North West Outer Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) said Operation Alaska was intended to send a clear message to those metal thieves who had been targeting the area.