Dozens of dangerous drivers uncovered in police 'capture lorry' crackdown

Police hit the roads in a heavy goods vehicle to catch out dangerous drivers.

Officers from Nottinghamshire's roads policing and the Ashfield Reacher team took part in the two-day operation involving a lorry loaned out by National Highways.

It resulted in 34 drivers being dealt with for seatbelt offences, 13 for not being in proper control, which included mobile phone use, and also two for tachograph offences.

There were also three further offences of driving without insurance, an insecure load and also a drug-driving incident where a 25-year-old driver was arrested after a road-side drugs test.

The elevated position of the cab gives officers a direct view into nearby vehicles so they can identify incidents as they happen and catch unsuspecting offenders in the act.

One of the incidents involved a BMW 1 series which was stopped by officers at Junction 28 of the M1.

The passenger was found to be wanted by a neighbouring force in connection to an assault. The suspect was also arrested on suspicion of possessing cannabis.

A total number of 46 vehicles were stopped during the event last week which comprised of 33 HGVs, eight vans and five cars.

Constable Phil Broughton, of Nottinghamshire’s roads policing team, led the investigation.

He said: "Being distracted at the wheel for even small amount of time can lead to devastating consequences and will not be tolerated.

"This is the third time this year we've had access to the HGV from our partners at National Highways, which has proven every time to be a great asset in preventing serious incidents on the roads.

"It enables us to drive alongside vehicles and record unsafe driving behaviour. We then stop the offending drivers before their actions have the chance to lead to a collision.

"This is one of many methods we use to put a stop to dangerous driving and offenders should be warned that they never know when they are being recorded.

"As well as the many roads operations we lead, we regularly receive dash-cam and mobile phone footage of these offences which we always investigate."