Thurrock: Targeting uninsured vehicles

This week, Thurrock road safety enforcement operation results in 13 uninsured vehicle seizures.

Each and every day, our dedicated Roads Policing Unit officers work hard to keep the roads in Essex safe for everyone, keep the traffic moving and to reduce killed and seriously injured collisions.

As part of their road safety efforts, they continue to clampdown on the number of uninsured vehicles and remove them from Essex’s roads, to protect other road users because not only is this illegal, but we cannot allow it to happen.

So, on Monday 10 February, our Roads Policing Unit officers focussed their efforts in Thurrock.

Being intelligence-led, our officers use information recorded on police databases and those of the Motor Insurers Bureau to identify uninsured vehicles on the move in the area.

Once stopped, the driver is asked to prove they have insurance before being allowed on their way. But those uninsured drivers have their vehicle seized.

That’s what happened to 13 drivers whose uninsured vehicles were seized, making them unsafe to be on the road. Often those that don’t have insurance, tax or MOT are some of the most dangerous on our roads because they are unroadworthy.

But other ways to keep you safe include issuing traffic offence reports to drivers who don’t uphold the law. Often these offences include those that are known as the Fatal Four.

On this day, five drivers were reported for breaking the law for a variety of offences and one disqualified driver who should not be on the road, was reported.

It’s our joint ambition to reduce the number of deaths on our roads by tackling the Fatal Four offences – speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, mobile phone distraction and drink or drug driving – under Vision Zero, our partnership with other like-minded road safety focussed organisations.

But we can’t do this alone.

Please play your part to keep our roads safe.

Recently, Essex Police’s Roads Policing Unit took part in an article about Operation Scalis and how we’re tackling uninsured drivers and why it’s so important.

The programme aired on Friday 7 February and you can watch it on BBC iPlayer.

Help us reduce road collisions and casualties in Essex and make our roads even safer. Report instances of poor and dangerous driving through Safer Essex Roads Partnership's Extra Eyes initiative.

More than ever, irresponsible, dangerous and illegal road behaviour is being recorded by road users. Through Extra Eyes this footage can be sent to, and reviewed by, an investigator within Road Policing at Essex Police.

Find out how by visiting Safer Essex Roads Partnership website.

We're offering more ways for our communities to stay up to date with our work across Essex.

Our e-newsletter, Dispatch, delivers news, information, and advice from Essex Police.

Dispatch is a ‘one stop shop’ for local police news – direct from the source. 

Sign up is completely free and you can unsubscribe at any time.