FIVE cars were seized and drivers fined during a police crackdown.

The traffic operation in Bradford West was carried out by West Yorkshire Police officers and partners including VOSA (the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) and HMRC.

The multi-agency day of action followed residents raising concerns about anti-social behaviour on the roads.

Officers spent yesterday in two hot-spot areas looking out for drivers flouting the rules and giving out advice.

Motorists were spoken to in Thornton Road and Haworth Road.

Some people were caught not wearing a seatbelt and others were on mobile phones.

West Yorkshire Police response officer PC David Senior co-ordinated the day.

He said the five cars were taken away because the drivers were not insured. Among them were a Honda Accord and a Toyota Avensis.

“All the drivers told us they thought they were covered on their dad’s or friend’s insurance and were surprised when we told them they weren’t.

“They will now have seven days to get insurance to claim the cars back or they will be scrapped,” said PC Senior.

“Whenever we put on social media that we have seized a car for no insurance we always get lots of people going on to ask us to do checks in their area.

“We get a lot of requests on Facebook.

“Driving a car with no insurance is anti-social behaviour. It’s a danger,” added PC Senior.

Officials were also checking cars for defects and a number of bald tyres and lights out were detected.

There were also a number of cars stopped because they did not have MOTs and vehicles’ fuel was also being looked at to see if illegal red diesel was being used.

Taxi Licensing officers from Bradford Council were also involved and a number of taxi plates were removed during the day because regulations had been broken.

“We have also been educating drivers we’ve stopped about road safety to help prevent crashes and been talking to them about the importance of keeping vehicles well maintained.

“Most of them have been accepting and receptive.

“I think most of the drivers stopped have learned their lessons,” PC senior said.

A speed camera was also set-up, but PC Senior said: “We’ll have to wait and see what the results of that are but I think it will have caught quite a few.”

Any traffic offences captured by that will be sent to a central ticket office where the driver’s history behind the wheel will be reviewed and, if eligible, they will be offered an awareness course or pay a fine and be issued with penalty points.

People who fail to respond or deny the offences will be summonsed to magistrates court.

There will be more days of action to follow, said PC Senior.

“We’ve had some positive results which means we have made Bradford’s roads a little bit safer for the public and there will be other multi-agency days like this one to follow. It’s been good teamwork,” he added.