A ROAD safety operation led to multiple stolen vehicles being recovered, vehicles being seized and unsafe loads secured.
Warwickshire Police worked with the likes of Highways England and the Caravan and Camping Club during Operation Homberg.
The operation took place on June 6 on the M6 at Corley North, and August 3 on the M40 South.
PS Shaun Bridle said “Operation Homberg was the first of our multi agency operations on the motorway network following Covid restrictions being lifted and officers and partners achieved some significant results.”
Three stolen trailers were uncovered along with a stolen Land Rover. A mini digger was also seized which had been stolen from Nottingham in 2014.
A total of 12 vehicles were found to be overweight and drivers received traffic reports and were stopped from continuing their journey until the weight was brought down to the legal level.
One abnormal load carrying a train carriage was found to be 42 tons overweight, and another carrying quarry machinery was 35 tons overweight. It was also insecure due to faulty straps.
Two vehicles had excessive tinted windows and the drivers were given a report and forced to remove the tints before continuing the journey.
Another two drivers had no insurance and one towing a caravan had no licence. All were reported and had their vehicles seized.
PS Bridle added: “During the operation advice was given to many drivers as we would rather educate drivers to help change behaviour and use enforcement as a last resort.
“There is a risk to the public every day due to drivers not complying with road safety laws. For example if you do not secure your load properly, it can shift causing injury to drivers, or fall into the road causing injury to other road users and pedestrians. Our aim is to reduce the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on Warwickshire’s roads and we will continue to target vehicles for these offences.”
