Police in an unmarked lorry cab have led to the identification of a range of driving offences in North Yorkshire.

The officers use their height in the vehicle to better spot people breaking the law – they then call marked police vehicles to come along and stop the drivers.

Although they say that on the whole they’ve observed very good driving standards they have caught a tractor driver on a motorway who was using his phone and had alcohol in his system from the night before, a badly damaged foreign vehicle attempting to make it to Dover and several people reading, checking paperwork or using their phones.

There were also van drivers caught – one who was observed using his phone one day and three days later caught again with the van dangerously overweight and another driver who was disqualified, driving an overweight van and using his phone.

Traffic Constable Mark Patterson who organised the operation said, “HGV, van and coach drivers are professionals, but even the professionals make mistakes sometimes, which can have catastrophic results in such a heavy vehicle. It is important to note however that this operation was not designed to target HGV drivers and in fact the results show that equal number of goods and private vehicles were dealt with.”