A CRACKDOWN on untaxed vehicles netted 60 dodgers and raised £1,200 in fines in its first month.
Wear Valley District Council teamed up with police and the DVLA in December to target abandoned cars and motorists not displaying road tax discs.
Offenders can face £200 on-the-spot fines and having their vehicles clamped, taken away to a compound or crushed.
After catching 34 owners during the first two days, the DVLA was called back by Crook police last month and seized 26 more vehicles in Tow Law, Stanley Crook, Willington, Leeholme, Coundon and Bishop Auckland.
Ian Coulthard, the council's enforcement officer for community services, said: "Untaxed and abandoned vehicles are a blight on our environment."
He said they were unsightly and could be dangerous to children. They contained a toxic cocktail of waste materials which, if set on fire, posed a risk to emergency services and the public
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