Leicestershire Police out targeting dangerous drivers on Watling Street

Since April, 274 seatbelt and 120 speed offences have been detected in similar operations.

Leicestershire Police's FATAL4 officers were out this morning (Thursday 19th August) on the A5 in Hinckley, stopping drivers on their phones or not wearing seatbelts.

Since April this year, they have caught 274 seatbelt , 45 mobile phone, 120 speeding and 5 drink/drug drive offences, but the location outside the Aldi on Watling Street was a new one for the team. 

Fosse 107 was invited along to watch the operation. Within around ten minutes of its start, drivers began flooding in. The first was pulled over for having too dark a tint on her windows. The penalty for this can range from words of advice, to three points and a £100 fine, to having the car impounded along with the points and fine. Thankfully for that driver, they were able to drive off but it was not clear if they were fined. 

Plain clothes volunteers and officers are situated along the road, spotting unsuspecting drivers before an officer directs them into the car park. One volunteer told us the job can be scary at times, and there is a lot of pressure not to miss anyone but they enjoy serving their community.

But the people without seatbelts begin to rack up, with it mainly being commercial vehicles pulled up. One man was insistent the police had not spotted he had his belt on, spending several minutes arguing his case, to no avail. 

Special Inspector Stuart Mottershaw, who's Casualty and Speed Reduction Co-ordinator for Leicestershire Police,says he's still shocked at how many people they catch.

"I must admit I try not to be staggered by the amount of offenders we catch... It's been law since 1983 and a lot of people we catch weren't even born in 1983."

This mornings two hour operation caught 20 people in total. This featured:

• 17 people without a seatbelt
• 2 on their phone
• 1 without insurance (vehicle seized)

You can hear our full chat with Inspector Mottershaw here.