18 held as police tackle road crime (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

18 held as police tackle road crime

9:28am Thursday 16th October 2008 in Bradford By Steve Wright

Eighteen people were arrested and 80 vehicles seized in a police operation to cut the number of uninsured drivers and criminals on the roads.

Police arrested one person for theft of a vehicle and cautioned one driver for possessing cannabis in Operation Impact.

Among the 18 arrested were several prolific offenders who had breached bail.

One driver was arrested after he was caught on camera committing a road traffic offence in a stolen car with a cloned number plate. The system showed the real car was parked in its owner’s drive in Kent.

More than 30 fixed-penalty tickets were also issued for a variety of offences. Vehicles worth up to £200,000 were seized, including a Mercedes-Benz, a new Volkswagen Passat and a Renault Megane convertible.

They will be sold or scrapped if the owners do not prove they have insured them.

Officers from four forces – West, South and North Yorkshire and Humberside – are working on Operation Impact to target the BD3 and BD8 areas of Bradford using the Automatic Number Plate Recognition system (ANPR).

The BD3 area, including Barkerend, Bradford Moor and Thornbury, was identified in last month’s Motor Insurers Bureau figures as the worst in the country for uninsured drivers, with two-thirds of car owners not having valid insurance.

The BD8 postcode, including Girlington, Manningham and Lower Grange, came sixth in the list of shame, with half of all drivers uninsured.

Manningham and Girlington were targeted on the second day of Operation Impact yesterday.

By last night a total of 80 vehicles had been seized in the two-day operation and 18 arrests made. A further eight people were arrested – for breaches, outstanding warrants and a theft from employer – by Neighbourhood Policing Team officers in Bowling, Barkerend and Bradford Moor.

Chief Superintendent Allan Doherty, of Airedale and North Bradford Police, said people not insuring their vehicles was unacceptable to the public. “This is something we take extremely seriously,” he said.

“Anyone who drives without insurance will be caught and we will have no hesitation to fine them substantially and seize their vehicles.”

Chief Inspector Paul Hep-worth, of Bradford South Neighbourhood Policing Team, said the percentage of uninsured vehicles stopped this week did not reflect the MIB figures.

He said crime in Bradford was down and Operation Impact was designed to drive it down further.

Inspector Joanne Field, of West Yorkshire Police’s Operations Support Division, said: “Criminals should be aware there are few hiding places.

“ANPR targets criminals, not only wanted by ourselves, but by forces across the country.”

This year, 1,520 vehicles with no insurance or driving licence were seized in Bradford South. The figure for Airedale and North Bradford is 1,048.