Police in unmarked HGV nab offending drivers

North Wales Police used HGV on strategic road network

- By OWEN HUGHES Chief Reporter

POLICE used an unmarked HGV to patrol the A55 and other trunk roads in North Wales, and caught drivers committing three particular offences.

North Wales Police have regular patrols on the expressway and other routes looking for speeding drivers and responding to incidents.

But they secured access to a specialist HGV tractor unit provided by National Highways. They used this over several days in August on the strategic road network, under the name Operation Tramline.

The elevated position of the HGV cab allowed trained officers to easily see what drivers were doing and the offences were captured and recorded on camera.

Once suspected offences were identified, officers from the Roads Crime Unit intercepted the identified vehicles and stopped drivers at the roadside or they were brought into a checkpoint to be spoken to.

They detected almost 90 offences. These included:

■ Drivers using their mobile phones behind the wheel

■ Drivers not wearing their seatbelt