A POLICE crackdown on illegal drivers and criminals has resulted in the seizure of eight vehicles and one collision after a driver failed to stop.

A POLICE crackdown on illegal drivers and criminals has resulted in the seizure of eight vehicles and one collision after a driver failed to stop.

Barking and Dagenham Police, traffic branch and Met Police special constables conducted the traffic operation in St Paul’s Way, Barking, between 10am and 1pm last week.

Out of 50 vehicles stopped, eight were seized for various offences. A 20-year-old man from Ilford failed to stop for police and collided with a post in Axe Street.

No-one was hurt in the collision but the man was arrested at the scene and later charged with driving without a valid driving licence, driving without insurance and failing to stop.

He has been bailed to appear at Barking Magistrates Court today (Wednesday).

The multi-agency operation used automatic number plate recognition, which helped officers to track vehicles being used in burglaries.

They also used Lantern fingerprint identification technology, which allows police to scan a person’s fingerprints and check them against the national database with a mobile device.

Inspector Richard Thomas said: “I will use every resource available to me to deny criminals and irresponsible drivers the use of our roads.

“We will continue to be unfaltering in our quest to make Barking and Dagenham safer for both drivers and pedestrians alike.”

PC Gill Painter of the Met Police Traffic Branch said: “As a traffic officer I see far too many serious and even fatal injuries on the road. Operations such as this send out a message to the public that we will not tolerate, and are clamping down on, the illegal use of our roads.”