THE SHOCKING number of vehicles seized by police, how many parents were fined for taking their children on holiday during term time and the frequency of gun and knife crimes in Bradford were all unearthed by using the Freedom of Information Act in 2018.

The Telegraph & Argus has consistently used the Act to reveal the staggering levels of crime in the district and where taxpayers’ money is being spent.

It was revealed in March that 7,147 bikes have been stolen in West Yorkshire since April 2015, including 1,130 of those reported stolen in the Bradford district.

Cyclists were urged by police to tighten security after seeing the figures, which showed the number of thefts were on the up.

The worst affected area was the Bradford East policing district where 251 cycles were stolen between April 2015 and January 2018.

Figures were obtained on a range of crimes, from driving offences to gun and knife crime.

Police and politicians vowed to keep tackling serious crimes in June after officers were found to have recorded 1,073 knife crimes and 310 gun crimes in Bradford over the last two years.

Officers dealt with at least 26 incidents of knife crime a month between April 2016 and March 2018.

The worst month for knife crimes during this period was January this year when 80 crimes were recorded by West Yorkshire Police - almost 30 more than the previous four weeks.

There were 310 gun crimes in the same 23 month period, with the worst recorded month in August 2017 when officers attended 22 crimes.

We also found out that supercars, SUVs and limousines were among some of the most high profile cars confiscated over the past five years.

Almost 27,000 vehicles were taken off the streets in this time.

The number of cars seized from uninsured drivers is rising, with 1,734 cars taken off the roads in 2015/16, 2,091 a year later and 2,214 in 2017/18.

Police do not discriminate about the type of car which can be removed from the road either, with everything from top of the range Lamborghinis to a Rolls-Royce being loaded onto the back of a flatbed truck if drivers are found to have broken the law.

Officers came across a white Rolls-Royce, being driven without insurance, in April this year and swiftly loaded it onto the back of a lorry to be taken away.

Driving offences are rife in the district, with nearly 200 youngsters in West Yorkshire banned from driving before they are old enough to have a provisional licence.

There were189 people aged 16 or under have been disqualified from driving across the county since 2014.

Two of them were just 13 years old, eighteen were 14 years old, 64 were aged 15 at the time they were banned from driving and 105 were aged 16.

Concerns over underage driving were heightened in September when two school boys were charged with various offences after a police pursuit early on Monday morning.

A 13-year-old was charged with dangerous driving, burglary and driving while disqualified after an alleged 100mph police chase through Bingley.

Another teen, aged 16, was charged with ‘twoccing’ (taking without the owner’s consent) and theft.

The longest ban handed out to a child was seven years and three months, which was handed down from the courts to a 15-year-old.

The number of bans for children aged between 13 and 17 are rising, too.

In 2014, 42 children were disqualified, followed by 90 in 2015, 108 in 2016 and 110 last year.

Away from crime figures, we reported on the number of parents fined for taking children out of school.

We found 17,821 parents received a fine for their child’s unauthorised absence and Bradford Council collected £900,720 - but 3,091 were unpaid.

According to the Education Act 1996, “parents are responsible for ensuring their child receives efficient full time education that is suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs the child may have.”

Kirkless Council has collected £441,180 from 6,167 fines in the last four years, however, a further 4,557 were unpaid.