DOZENS of motorists have been caught in a police operation to crack down on driving offences in Bolton town centre.

People driving in Trinity Street yesterday morning were greeted by a number of police officers and vehicles.

Police were using a number plate recognition camera to spot vehicles that did not have insurance or tax whilst an officer in plain clothes was looking for drivers talking on their mobile phones or not wearing a seatbelt.

Cars were being pulled over into Crook Street, by the Sweet Green Tavern, to be dealt with by officers.

Police also seized vehicles for having no insurance, fines were issued and advice was given to several people.

In total, during the five hour operation, which began at 8am, police caught 18 people without seat belts, 11 people using mobile phones whilst driving and 11 others who had no insurance.

Officers also found that four registration plates had been altered, one vehicle was overweight and owners of six vehicles, which had illegally tinted windows, were handed £50 fines.

During the operation three taxi drivers had their licences suspended and two people were arrested for theft.

Inspector Paul Rowe was part of the team carrying out the checks.

He said that one car that officers pulled over had false plates and the driver and the passenger were both Lithuanian.

The passenger had no identification so police were trying to work out who he was.

Officers believe that the car was not insured so the driver put false plates on that were possibly stolen from a similar vehicles.

The driver was arrested and enquiries are continuing.

One motorist was spotted with their full beam lights on and was pulled over by officers to be given advice.

Revenue and customs officers also took part in the operation, helping to check if vehicles were using illegal fuels such as red diesel.

Police were also checking tyres on vehicles with the weather set to turn cold again this week.

The checks were part of Operation Considerate, Greater Manchester Police’s ongoing campaign to encourage all road users to show consideration to other road users.

Greater Manchester Police supports the work of RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims and works in partnership with Drivesafe, the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership.

Inspector Rowe, who was supervising the Bolton operation, said: “It’s good we can come out and have some visibility and deter people from committing driving offences.”