Vehicles seized in rural crime crackdown

Some of the vehicles did not have road tax or insurance and were seized

More than 50 vehicles were stopped by police during an operation aimed at disrupting rural crime.

Essex and Cambridgeshire's rural police teams worked with the UK National Rural Crime Unit on the borders between the two counties.

The team seized vehicles for not having road tax or insurance, recovered a trailer stolen earlier this year and reported vehicles for being overweight, for not having an MOT and for trailer defects, during a six-hour period on 5 November.

Sgt Tom Nuttall said: "We were able to work with partner enforcement agencies to target drivers that might be involved in rural crime."

Officers from Cambridgeshire's Rural Crime Action Team and Essex Police's Rural Engagement Team took part in the joint action

Cambridgeshire Police said its aim was to check vehicle identification and compliance, complete high-visibility patrols of road networks and stop vehicles towing to check for stolen agricultural machinery, horseboxes and caravans.

The team also intercepted vehicles travelling on the M11 and escorted them to the Imperial War Museum car park at Duxford.

Checks were carried out by a range of organisations including the Driver Vehicle Standards Agency, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the Environment Agency and the Motor Insurance Bureau.

A trailer was recovered which had been stolen earlier this year, while HMRC issued a £520 fine to someone using red diesel, a fuel used by off-road vehicles and machinery

Sgt Nuttall said it was "another successful operation".

“It is important we remove drivers and vehicles off the road which aren’t safe and could cause accidents," he said.

“We conduct this operation at various times throughout the year across different locations in Cambridgeshire and will continue to ensure vehicles and drivers are legally safe on the roads and not using them to commit rural crime.”

As well as vehicles being seized, a man was arrested on suspicion of drug driving after failing a drug swipe for cannabis