POLICE have begun roadside checks to catch potentially dangerous vehicles on County Durham's roads.

During the next two weeks, officers will be checking for defects such as worn tyres, faulty exhausts, broken lights and handbrakes not working properly.

Drivers will be issued with a notice instructing them to gets faults fixed at a garage.

They could also get on-the-spot fixed-penalty fines of £60 or, in more serious cases, be prosecuted.

Last year, a total of 4,183 vehicle defect tickets were handed out by the force.

Durham Police's road casualty reduction officer, PC Dave Nixon, said: "We have put this campaign in place because every dangerous vehicle is a potential killer.

"Our prime concern is the safety of all road users in County Durham and Darlington which, hopefully, we can achieve with the cooperation of vehicle owners.

"Our officers will be looking for the obvious defects such as worn tyres, windscreen wipers which don't work properly or bodywork in a poor condition.

"But many of the faults we find are the sorts of things drivers should be checking on a regular basis."

If a driver receives a defect notice, he or she must take the vehicle to an MoT-approved garage and have the fault corrected at the first opportunity.

The form must be stamped by the garage and the police must be notified within 14 days.

All of the force's 130 traffic officers will be involved in the safety checks, which will be carried out at various locations.