Solihull police op finds 50pc of drivers in breach of law

Nov 25 2009 by Sophie Cross, Birmingham Mail

By Sophie Cross

A POLICE operation on a busy road in Solihull found 50 per cent of drivers were breaking the law.

The operation, carried out on a main road in Olton, saw officers use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) equipment on 30 vehicles, resulting in 15 of them being stopped and investigated.

Fourteen vehicles were seized for “document-related offences”, such as driving without insurance, and one had its window tint removed as it was deemed illegal.

One arrest took place and one motorist was issued with a fixed penalty notice.

Inspector Phil Radbourne, of Solihull police station, said: “We wanted to target vehicles that were using main routes into Solihull town centre and the surrounding area that may have been illegal or intent on committing crime in our neighbourhood.”

ANPR is a computer system that tells police which vehicles to stop and check.

Insp Radbourne has described the process on his blog.

He wrote: “The vehicle may be reported as stolen, have no insurance or tax or may be of interest to us for some reason.”