Five vehicles were seized by police and 14 people were reported for traffic offences during a one-day traffic operation in Thanet.
Organised by the Thanet Community Policing Team (CPT), road checks were set up on the A28 Canterbury Road towards Birchington and Queens Parade in Cliftonville on Friday, January 15.
Patrols were also carried out in the Dane Valley and St Peter’s areas in response to concerns regarding recent motorbike thefts.
A total of 77 vehicles were stopped during the day, and 14 people were reported for a range of offences, including speeding, using a mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt and not having insurance or a licence.
In Canterbury Road, one motorist was reported to be driving at 62 mph in an area where the maximum speed limit is 30mph.
In Queen’s Parade, a 30-year-old man from Margate was arrested on suspicion of drug-driving. He was later released under investigation.
Two people also received fines for breaching Covid-19 legislation.
Thanet CPT Sergeant Sean Scarsbrook said: “We are appreciative of the support we received from the public during the operation, and it should be said that the majority of motorists were within the law, driving roadworthy vehicles in a responsible manner.
“However we did identify those whose driving fell below expectations and they now face further action as a result.
“Traffic legislation exists to help people stay safe on the roads, so I urge all motorists to make sure their vehicles are maintained, insured, and driven appropriately.”
Well done Kent Police! More of this please.
Good!!! Keep it up, dane valley and St Peters cut through, clifftonville especially get these thugs nicking our motorbikes off our streets please.
These type of checks need to be weekly, a team could be set up with a sergeant, a constable and a few pcso’s or similar.
Apart from the roadside checks, the team can do routine foot patrols on public property including council car parks using a hand held numberplate scanner which is data preloaded with every registered vehicle. mot, vehicle tax, stolen, any vehicle insurance, any markers ie vehicle has historically been used in crime-drugs-assault-robbery etc.
The worst offending vehicles could be clamped !
Handheld number plate scanners are used by many traffic wardens, for revenue protection
This should be a daily occurrence…
Pop up road checks round the clock , in random locations…That’s how it used to be done …
Yes I fully agree Liam. This should be a daily event, Kent police need to wake up and get out each day to clamp down on absolutely mindless thugs who pretend to be drivers, 62 miles per hour in a 30 zone is common not unusual. Kent has a terrible reputation for death and injury on our roads. That is because for far too long the lazy police find it better to stay in a warm patrol car or police station ( that’s if the Nick is still open) only emerging on blues and twos when yet another road traffic accident happens. When one complains to the police about speeding drink drivers or dangerous driving. If one phones the police call takers at Kent police HQ say “ will you support a prosecution” if the police we’re out doing what they are paid to do THEY should be supporting the prosecutions not expecting members of the public to do the job for them.
Yes I fully agree with the above comments. The police carry out these Ops once in a blue moon and it makes local headlines. If these Ops were over five days and every day that would be 25 vehicles taken off the road and many more drivers found who should not be on the road. In Kent in 2019 886 people were killed or seriously injured a rise of 4.6% on the year before.
I fully agree with all the above comments. We should not have to put up with drug driving, using a mobile phone while in control of a car or driving without insurance or without using a seat belt. These actions taken by the police should become much more frequent and regular!
If the tories hadn’t got rid of 20,000 police officers and shut hundreds of police stations, there would be more resources available to keep our streets safe.
So true Andrew. Theresa May left this country seriously exposed to crime by cutting the Police. She made a far worse mistake when as PM she promoted Johnson to be the worst Foreign Secretary of the last 40 years.
Will never know how he got he job. All she had to do was look at his CV.