Police stop over 150 vehicles on a major Hampshire road - including seizing over £10,000 for money laundering - as drivers arrested and fined

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and Thames Valley Police Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit stopped 152 vehicles as part of an operation to crackdown on offences being committed on the A34 and criminal use of this arterial route. The route runs from the A33 and M3 at Winchester heading north.

Resources from across the unit, including ANPR vans, the Commercial Vehicle Unit and the Dog Section, were deployed along the whole of the dual carriageway as part of a joint operation between both forces that took place last Wednesday and Thursday.

SEE ALSO: Man charged over stabbing

This operation was part of the wider national Drive Insured campaign. In total, 152 vehicles, including 30 HGV’s, were stopped over the two days with five arrests being made. In one case, officers seized £12,000 and a man was arrested for money laundering and immigration offences.

Police seized 26 vehicles, nine of which were for no insurance while 14 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued for a variety of offences including for no MOT, not wearing a seatbelt, insecure loads and excessive driver hours. In addition, safety camera vans detected 982 vehicles exceeding the speed limit.

Detective chief inspector Mike Bettington, of the Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, said: ‘This is one of the biggest deployments of our roads policing resources and skill sets for an operation such as this. The aim being that anyone driving on the A34 could be stopped by officers who were seeking to detect, deter and disrupt drivers who were committing any offences.

‘As such, we stopped over 150 vehicles for a variety of offences. Keeping the roads safe is a priority and we have managed to take a number of dangerous drivers and vehicles off the roads. Road safety is not something to be taken lightly and our roads unit work tirelessly to keep our roads safe every day.’

For all the latest news, traffic and travel, what’s on, Pompey, sport and breaking stories visit The News’s website.

We will be bringing you all of the latest stories from across Portsmouth and surrounding area throughout the day.