Dozens of drivers stopped in op

“Hard to say, RockyB, but you do seem to be only one who has registered with the site to spam the same comment on four different articles.”

“Can we expect similar police operations in the Cotswolds or has Gloucester been targeted once again ? Perhaps the Citizen could investigate ?”

“geraint2010 - often thought this. Why not use existing CCTV systems in filling stations, council car parks, supermarket car parks etc. to read every number plate exiting onto a public highway. Set them up so that there can no argument that the vehicle is moving onto a public highway, and is therefore committing an offence if there is anything not in order. And then send a summons to the registered keeper's address. Any vehicle that comes back as having no registered keeper (which in itself is an offence) then has a marker on it to be stopped as soon as possible.

Couldn't send the summons through the post - would have to be hand-delivered. But tasking a bobby to visit home addresses to deliver summons would be cheaper than a multi-unit roadside operation. Plus said bobby could potentially witness further offences being committed as the errant drivers return home, and then impound the vehicle immediately.

I read somewhere very recently that the average vehicle passes through road-side ANPR cameras 200 times a year. In which case thousands of dodgy motors must be pinging up on the system on a daily basis (some day after day after day). The technology exists to identify the vast majority of suspect motors / drivers, so it's time the authorities used the masses of data being collected daily and got the morons and/or their iffy motors off the roads.

The honest motorist who has nothing to fear will have no problem with increased ANPR usage. Especially if it removes more dangerous vehicles / drivers from the roads, and also helps to reduce motor insurance premiums.

And motorists being fleeced by roadside operations? Rubbish. Those having money taken off them (i.e. fines) deserve it - having to pay a fine is not being fleeced. The honest motorists are arguably being fleeced, through inflated insurance to cover the costs from the uninsured minority.

Yes, this is a particular issue for me. It costs me a lot of money to keep my car legal and on the road - I do it because I need to be able to drive, and therefore I have to abide by all the rules & regulations. It annoys me greatly that there are so many drivers who ignore the rules, both in terms of having a legal vehicle, plus the general rules of the road.”

“How many burglars were arrested on Friday?”

“I am in two minds about this.
I am glad that the Law has caught some people in its' web, the main one being lack of insurance or even licence. Thumbs up!
On the other hand, whereas the Police can do this type of operation by law, do I agree that i could be stopped having done nothing wrong then asked to prove my legitimacy to use the road?
What will tomorrow's headline be? 'Police conducted a random search of 100 homes in the Cheltenham area'. Such an act would be just as rational... Just think of all the drugs, stolen goods etc that could be hauled...
'Ah' you say, 'if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear'.
The UK of GB & NI has roughly 1 % of the worlds population however 25% of the worlds CCTV.
Arbeit Macht Frei
George Orwell was right, he just got the wrong date.”

“I don't understand why Police or other authorities don't call at your house if the insurance has lapsed.
Why trawl through thousands of legal drivers before finding the 4%?”

“Matt1006 £30 per year is nothing compared to the estimated £90 per year for whiplash compo!

Befifitsrus1 the waste carrying licence issue is a big one as these people are the ones that commit the fly tipping that WE pay to clean up. It can also affect the people who use them as they may be prosecuted for the fly tipping as they will not have any paperwork to back up the fact that they paid someone else to remove the waste.”

“Would it not be cheaper (not to mention a substantial saving in police time) if they simply used numberplate recognition technology to identify and summons the owners of uninsured/untaxed/MOT expired vehicles?”

“BenefitsRUs1 - so you'd rather the police didn't carry out this sort of operation, and therefore uninsured vehicles were left to carry on (and you continue to pay an extra £30 a year on your own motor insurance)? And I assume you're happy for mobile phone users to also carry on unchecked, and continue to be a danger to all other road users? You wouldn't be so dismissive if you got hit in your own (presumably legal) car by one of them.

Or maybe you'd rather not see operations like this, as you might be caught by the next one...???

Those having to part with money have committed an offence. So are you saying motoring fines are wrong?

100% legal and honest motorists should not have a problem with the police targeting the criminal minority on the roads, who are costing the rest of us money, not to mention many of them are outright dangerous.”

“This is nothing more than revenue collection exercise to fleece the motorist.”