Police are giving themselves a huge pat on the back for results of an operation they set up to tackle dangerous and criminal activity on the county’s roads.

Operation Vanquish saw officers stop hundreds of vehicles and a total of 1,232 offences were found - but in reality was it only scratching the surface of growing criminality on local roads (and pavements)?

Think about the times you've seen drivers race in and around Ormskirk, the number of electric bikes and scooters ridden unlawfully in the town and crashes caused by bad driving and bad drivers

In reality, one of the worst things that the force did was close down the Ormskirk traffic office which had a dedicated team of officers on overt and covert patrol 24/7. Now, it's not unusual to chat to Tac Ops officers who have come all the way from West division (Blackpool) to patrol in Ormskirk... when they have the time.

Ormskirk deserves better...

Back to the PR: During the first week alone – which saw officers carry out a motorway operation tackling commercial vehicle crime – around £12,000 of fines were handed out.
Overall 526 traffic offence reports or fixed penalties were issued, with a further 706 notices of intended prosecution given.

Offences from the fortnight included: 731 people speeding; 107 vehicles driven without an MOT; 96 people not wearing a seatbelt, including eight who were children or passengers; 55 people driving without insurance; 41 vehicles in such bad condition they were prohibited from travelling any further; 44 people using a handheld mobile phone while driving; and 14 commercial vehicles being driven without their load properly secured.

Other offences included vehicles with illegally tinted windows, people driving without a licence or while disqualified and drink and drug-drivers.

Supt Mark Morley, of the Constabulary's TacOps team, said: “There are still people who clearly believe the law doesn’t apply to them and it is to those people we say this: you risk your own and others’ lives when you drive illegally.
“If your vehicle has no MOT, tyres which aren’t fit for use, is overloaded or has a load which hasn’t been secured properly, you are putting yourself and others in serious danger. If you drive without a licence, insurance or while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you are putting yourself and others in serious danger.

“The law is there for a reason.

“Although the two weeks of surge activity is over we will continue to be out and about, and we hope that this fortnight of activity shows that dangerous and criminal driving on Lancashire’s roads will not be tolerated.”

Andrew Snowden, Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner said: "The overwhelming majority of people on our roads want to see anyone posing a danger to the public and driving dangerously in our communities, targeted and proactive policing like we've seen during these weeks of action does exactly that.

"These results speak for themselves and highlight that our officers will be stopping you, with appropriate action taken, if you recklessly put yourself or others at risk, from our key motorway routes through to our towns and country roads, linking in with other key stakeholders.

“This surge of extra activity on our roads has seen those driving at very high speeds, under the influence of drink or drugs, using mobile phone and a range of other potential offences targeted, all part of keeping people safe on all our roads.”