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Friday 11th May, 2012
Operation Rustproof Seizes Thousands Of Cars
An operation to rid Nottinghamshire’s streets of uninsured, unlicensed and unroadworthy vehicles has seen almost 22,000 seized in seven years.
Operation Rustproof, which began in 2005, has officers targeting vehicles being driven without a licence or insurance.
Motorists found in vehicles without insurance are either given a fixed penalty notice or reported for summons and have their vehicles seized. These are then taken to a garage where it is the owner’s responsibility to produce proof of insurance and pay the storage charge. If they are not collected within 14 days, the vehicles are either scrapped or sent to auction.
Chief Inspector Andy Charlton, Head of Roads Policing, said: “Since 2005, 21872 vehicles have been removed from Nottinghamshire’s roads for having no insurance or being driven without a licence.
“Unfortunately we find that many of these are not even roadworthy and are putting other everyone, including themselves, in danger. Drivers are aware they are committing a crime if they get into their vehicles knowing they are not insured.
“Operation Rustproof allows us to use legislation to remove these vehicles from the streets, making them safer. It also helps us to reduce crime and cut the number of people who are injured or killed in road collisions.
“We regularly carry out spot checks using automatic number plate recognition technology which links in to information stored by the DVLA and other agencies, allowing us to identify people driving without the proper documentation.
“Between January and March this year, the Force has seized 698 uninsured vehicles. In Nottinghamshire we are, however, seeing a reduction in the number of vehicles without insurance. This is a success for everyone – there are less uninsured collisions, and we will continue to use technology and police enforcement in the right way.”
Figures shown in the table below show the number of vehicles seized since the operation began.
Year: Amount of vehicles seized
2005: 2445
2006: 5328
2007: 3594
2008: 2624
2009: 2807
2010: 2332
2011: 2044 |
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