Brighton police seized two taxless cars for the price of one when a tax dodging driver phoned his dad to pick him up – only for the father to turn up in a van which also had no tax or MOT.
The first driver’s Ford C-Max was seized in Upper Hollingdean Road in Brighton on 12 June. Officers pulled him over for having no tax since May 2017 and no MOT since November 2016.
He then called his dad asking him to pick him up in his Ford Transit van – but officers stopped that around the corner in Hollinbury Road and seized it too for having no tax since February 2018 and no MOT since June 2017.
Both drivers were fined £100 each for no MOT, and their details passed to the DVLA for not having any tax.
The pair were among more than 60 drivers whose vehicles were pulled over after being identified through Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras as part of Operation Street earlier this month.
These cameras flag up traffic offences such as driving with no insurance, as well as intelligence for criminality such as drug-dealing or a wanted person.
On Wednesday 13 June, a white Volkswagen Golf was stopped in Lewes Road, Brighton, as intelligence showed it had been seen in suspicious circumstances a few days previously.
Following a search of the vehicle and its four occupants, approximately 200 wraps of suspected drugs and three mobile phones were seized. All four people were arrested and released under investigation pending further enquiries.
Members of the public can submit reports of dangerous or antisocial driving via Operation Crackdown.
Penalties for non compliance on tax, MOT and insurance are far too lenient.
The MOT costs just over £50, the fine in this case was £100 – well worth the risk to some.
Make them swingeing and there would be far fewer people willing to take the risk.