Around 30 drivers were reported for offences and a dozen vehicles were seized in Telford by police and the DVLA in a joint operation tackling untaxed and uninsured vehicles.

Officers from Wellington and Donnington Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams, supported by the Operational Policing Unit set up monitoring posts near Trench Lock and Leegomery yesterday morning to check the details of all passing vehicles.

Every vehicle that activated a warning on the Automatic Number Plate Recognition Systems was stopped by police officers, the drivers spoken with and reported for the various offences identified.

Where possible, drivers were given the opportunity to pay outstanding vehicle excise fees direct to the DVLA or arrange insurance via the telephone or internet on the spot in order to continue their journeys but where this couldn’t be done vehicles were seized to prevent further offending.

In total there were nine cases of uninsured vehicles, seventeen with no vehicle excise licence, otherwise known as road tax or car tax, five with expired MOT’s and four drivers without valid driving licences.

In addition, a number of the Neighbourhood Policing Team Officers and Community Support Officers across north Telford and Newport are being given special DVLA enforcement powers so that they can seize and remove untaxed vehicles they encounter on their normal patrols.