Five arrests and 26 vehicles seized in police operation on major road near Aylesbury

Five people were arrested and 26 vehicles were seized over a two-day police operation to crack down on offences being committed a major arterial route near Aylesbury.

Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary’s Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit stopped 152 vehicles as part of Op Totality, tackling uninsured drivers on the A34 from Bicester to Winnall and criminal use of this arterial route.

ANPR vans, the Commercial Vehicle Unit and the Dog Section were deployed along the 60 miles of dual carriageway as part of the joint operation on Wednesday and Thursday, November 23 and 24, which was part of the wider ‘Op Drive Insured’ campaign, supported by MIB and the National Police Chiefs Council.

Thirty HGVs were among the 152 vehicles that were stopped over the two days, and five arrests were made.

In one case, officers seized £12,000 and a man was arrested for money laundering and immigration offences.

Twenty-six vehicles were seized, nine of which were for no insurance.

Fourteen Fixed Penalty Notices were issued for a variety of offences including no MOT, not wearing a seatbelt, insecure loads and excessive driver hours.

Police safety camera vans also detected 982 vehicles exceeding the speed limit.

Detective Chief Inspector Mike Bettington, of the Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, said: “This is one of the biggest deployments of our Roads Policing resources and skillsets for an operation such as this – the aim being that anyone driving on the A34 could be stopped by officers who were seeking to detect, deter and disrupt drivers who were committing any offences.

“As such, we stopped over 150 vehicles for a variety of offences.

“Keeping the roads safe is a priority for the JOU Roads Policing Department and we have managed to take a number of dangerous drivers and vehicles off the roads.

“Road safety is not something to be taken lightly and our Roads Policing Units work tirelessly to keep our roads safe every day.”

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