A CLAMP down on untaxed and uninsured motor vehicles has seen nearly 70 taken off the roads by North Yorkshire Police.

Sixty-eight vehicles were locked in secure compounds following a county-wide blitz by the force's automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) unit and the DVLA last week.

The vehicles will now stay locked up until their owners have paid a fine and demonstrated they have forked out for tax and insurance.

Ten arrests were also made as part of the operation, ranging from alleged illegal immigrants to individuals wanted for crimes such as forgery and deception.

Sergeant Ian Butler, of the ANPR team, said: "This is what intelligence-led policing is all about. We use the information we have collected, excellent national databases, and the advanced technology of ANPR, and the result is that we have arrested wanted people and taken a large number of untaxed or uninsured vehicles off the road.

"We have found that a high proportion of untaxed vehicles are connected with criminals and criminality, and this week's operation will undoubtedly hit a variety of law-breakers where it hurts."

The operation ran for two days in Harrogate, one in Skipton, one day in Scarborough, and ended in York.

The ANPR cameras checked the registration numbers of 40,562 vehicles, and generated 924 pieces of information - ranging from the identification of untaxed or uninsured vehicles to crime-fighting intelligence which will be shared with neighbouring police forces or followed up by North Yorkshire officers.

Ninety-three vehicles were stopped. Sixty-two cars and vans were untaxed. All were seized by the DVLA team.

The owners of untaxed vehicles get £200 fines. They must pay off their back tax and show that the vehicles are properly insured before they can be driven away.

A further six vehicles were seized for being uninsured.

Six drivers received fixed penalty tickets for offences ranging from driving unaccompanied on a provisional licence to driving while using a mobile phone.

Sgt Butler said: "This force has a duty to tackle criminality in all its guises, and that is what we have been doing with this week's highly successful operation."

John Moore DVLA's enforcement manager said: "We are determined to target this irresponsible group who consistently evade paying their road tax.

"There is a strong link between untaxed vehicles, motoring offences, anti-social behaviour and crime.

"From past experience we have found that up to 80 per cent of untaxed vehicles have no insurance and up to 70 per cent of the occupants of these vehicles have criminal records.

"These vehicles are also a serious threat to road safety."

Updated: 10:07 Monday, August 01, 2005