A dog died after it was hit by a car on Hove seafront, Sussex Police said.
The force said: “Police are appealing for witnesses after a dog was killed in a collision with a car.
“The incident, involving a blue BMW 1 Series, happened on Hove Lawns shortly after midday on Friday 26 July.
“The dog – a dachshund – was taken to the vets where it sadly died from its injuries.
“The BMW was seized in connection with the incident and confirmed to be unregistered and uninsured.
“It was reportedly being driven close to the Lawns Café when the collision occurred.
“The owner of the vehicle has so far not been traced.”
Inspector Alexandra Bailey, of the Brighton Neighbourhood Response Team, said: “We understand the significant distress this incident has caused to the dog’s owners – and the wider public – and our inquiries to identify the driver of the vehicle are ongoing.
“We know there were a large number of people in the area around that time and we’re urging anyone who can assist in our investigation to please come forward.
“Anyone who saw what happened or captured it on mobile, dashcam or CCTV is asked to report it online or call 101, quoting serial 573 of 26/07.”
The car was with the travellers who were on the lawns that day and moved on soon after
I hope they throw the book at the driver. What on earth was an uninsured, unlicensed driver doing anywhere near these lawns. This could have just as easily been a child and the loss of a dog is obviously completely devastating regardless. The same thing happened with an uninsured, no licence driver in Davigdor Rd with a woman a couple of weeks ago. This is why cars are not allowed on the lawns and any traveller vehicles on it should be seized and impounded to ever stop something like this or worse happening again.
Probably using cloned number plates. If there was a national database linking the ANPR cameras they could spot incidences of cars being driven in two locations at once and clamp down on this. What I mean is, if a car is seen in Brighton and Northampton within the same hour, one of them is using cloned number plates. I think there is a criminal underworld making cloning work. They find a car matching one where they pretty much know it will be using in a certain area and will be taxed and insured. Say a BMW in Yorkshire. They buy one of roughly the same model and colour. Then they use the number plates in Brighton. When the cloned car goes past the ANPR is does not raise an alarm because it does appear to be taxed and insured.
So, it sounds as if VIN for every vehicle in future should be on some kind of electronic tag. That would make life a whole lot easier than camera based number plate recognition systems.
You’d think if the police were sent out the move the travellers on, one of them might have taken the time to check every single vehicle was registered, taxed, MOTd, insured because obviously half of them wouldn’t have been and they would have been able to seize a bunch of those vehicles which would have been a bigger deterrent to the them than anything else.