MORE than 120 vehicles were stopped by police in a two-day operation in the North-East designed to target travelling criminals.

The Durham and Northumbria police forces’ roads units manned checkpoints on the A1(M) at Washington Services and on the A690 at West Rainton, near Durham, on Tuesday and Wednesday last week (September 24 and 25).

Officers were deployed at the times when intelligence suggested 'vehicles of interest' would pass by.

Officers also looked for motorists committing traffic offences such as speeding, using a mobile phone or not wearing a seatbelt.

Vehicles suspected to be unroadworthy or with issues relating to the driver’s licence or insurance were also stopped and checked.

The 122 vehicles stopped included some driven by, or containing members of organised crime groups.

Police seized five vehicles for having no insurance and one where the driver failed a breath test and was arrested.

They issued eight summons for various offences, three endorsable tickets for serious vehicle defects and three further notices for less serious problems.

They also issued four fixed penalty tickets for seatbelt offences and arrested one man for driving while disqualified.

The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) issued 17 prohibition notices and seven fixed penalty notices, mainly for mechanical faults and commercial vehicle drivers being on the road for too many hours.

The mobile safety camera unit clocked 44 vehicles speeding and one vehicle was found by the HMRC fuel team to be using ‘red’ diesel illegally.

The driver was unable to pay the £500 fine at the scene so the vehicle was seized.

Acting Inspector Jon Curtis, of Durham’s road policing unit, said: “Criminals do not respect artificial police boundaries and are free to travel across different force areas at will.

“The purpose of this operation was to disrupt their activities, detect any offences and gather intelligence to help us plan future actions.

“I am sure that our high-visibility deployment will have gone a long way to increasing confidence in both force areas and demonstrated our commitment to policing the roads, targeting travelling criminals and reinforcing the importance of road safety.”