TWO arrests were made and three vehicles were seized as police took to the streets of Whitehaven as part of a new operation to tackle the scourge of antisocial driving.
The police, fire and crime commissioner (PFCC) joined Cumbria Police officers on Monday to kick off Operation Colossus, which aims to target nuisance road users.
A woman with two small children in the car failed a drug wipe and was arrested, and a man also failed a drug wipe after testing positive for cannabis; he, too, was taken into custody.
A man travelling back from the Kendal Calling music festival had his vehicle seized for having no insurance, no MOT, and no tax.
Later in the day, two other vehicles were uplifted, one for being driven without a license and the other for driving whilst disqualified.
A total of 11 roadside drug wipes and alcohol tests were carried out, one stop and search, 11 educational interventions, and one traffic offence report.
Operation Colossus is a 15-week operation to promote road safety by tackling antisocial driving.
A key part of the initiative is to clamp down on the illegal use of electric bikes and e-scooters.
On the first day of the operation in Whitehaven, traffic checkpoints were also held, stopping drivers to ensure they were adhering to the law.
PFCC David Allen was in attendance. He said: "This is a 15-week operation organised by the Neighbourhood Policing Teams and operational support, our roads policing unit.
"They're going to be tackling antisocial driving, e-bikes, and anything that causes a nuisance on the road.
"It's a 15-week extended operation, not just a flash in the pan, to get to the heart of it across the entirety of Cumbria."
He continued: "If you're on the road on an e-scooter, it's illegal and unlawful. It will be taken off you, it will be seized, and it will be crushed. Because in Cumbria, you cannot ride an e-scooter on the road.
"In relation to e-bikes, we get a lot of problems with nuisance calls around them. There are a lot of ones that are illegal; if they're too big or too fast, they'll be taken off people, seized, and crushed."
Inspector Alex Johnson, of the operational support unit in Cumbria Police, added: "I'm hoping the operation will be a success. What we want to achieve is road safety.
"It's part of vision zero: what we want is zero fatalities on our roads. We also want to link in with the neighbourhood pledge, and a big aspect of that is road safety.
"So it's looking at how do we best use our resources to spread that message and reduce the harm that is happening on our roads."
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