Camper van prize haul in uninsured driver swoop

A camper van is towed from outside Blackpool Tower Picture: Lancashire Police

Officers posted images on social media to highlight a number of successful stops, a stark warning to drivers without insurance, tax or MOT.

The most high profile came on Saturday evening when officers stopped a camper van outside Blackpool Tower.

The image was posted by officers accompanied by the hashtag ‘road to nowhere’ – a reference to the Peter Kay sitcom, part of which was shot in Blackpool.

“It’s not our usual insurance seizure,” a spokesman for Lancashire Police said.

“Police stopped and checked a Peugeot motor caravan on the Promenade in Blackpool around 6pm on April 2.

“The vehicle was found to have no insurance and recovered around 7.40pm.

The camper van was just one of a number of incidents highlighted.

Police also revealed they had towed a tow truck, with another car onboard when it was found to have no valid insurance.

Other cars stopped included a Volkwagen Golf, which was pulled over towing a jetski along Amounderness Way in Fleetwood.

Lancashire Police said no specific operation had been carried out on the Fylde coast but officers would continue to track down those flouting the rules of the road.

And the message was clear: ‘drive without the appropriate paperwork and risk losing your car’.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: “It is illegal to drive a vehicle on a road or in a public place without at least third party insurance and a driving licence.

“Drivers could be given a fixed penalty of £300 and six penalty points if you’re caught driving a vehicle you’re not insured to drive.

“The police also have the power to seize, and in some cases, destroy the vehicle that’s being driven uninsured.

“If a driver is convicted of driving without a license then they will almost inevitably incur between three and six penalty points and can be fined up to £1,000.

“The courts also have the power, exercised on a discretionary basis, to disqualify such a driver from holding or obtaining a license for a period of time.”

Police will continue to patrol and use automatic number plate recognition to crack down on uninsured and untaxed motorists, they said.