Police seize hundreds of vehicles after major weekend roadside clampdown

Police caught 140 people allegedly driving without insurance during a weekend crackdown.

Officers also seized 96 vehicles in relation to the alleged offences during the campaign which ran from 26-29 August.

They also caught 38 people allegedly driving without a suitable or valid licence and seized 20 vehicles in relation to those alleged offences.

The campaign was co-ordinated by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpos) in Scotland and was backed by all eight Scottish police forces.

Assistant Chief Constable Fiona Taylor of Acpos said: “Over the weekend, all police forces have targeted those offenders who continually disregard the law and are willing to take the risk of driving on our roads without either suitable insurance or a suitable licence.

“During this campaign, officers have seized and removed from our road network 116 vehicles. This will seriously inconvenience these people and in the case of the uninsured vehicles, unless they obtain suitable insurance, they will not get their vehicle back.

“Officers throughout Scotland will continue to target these offences on a daily basis and we will work with partners and utilise the latest technology to trace and remove these offenders from our roads.”

The highest number of cases was in Strathclyde, where 69 alleged insurance offences and 18 alleged driving licence offences were detected during the campaign.

Dumfries and Galloway had the lowest number of cases, with three alleged insurance offences and three alleged driving licence offences.

Dean Smith, police liaison manager for the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, said: “It’s great to see the police forces in Scotland using their resources to target uninsured drivers at this time. A campaign like this sends a strong message to unlawful motorists that uninsured driving will not be tolerated by making enforcement action highly visible.”