WILTSHIRE Police is taking part in a national operation to rid our roads of uninsured vehicles next week.

Operation Drive Insured 2018 runs from November 12 to 18, and follows Operation Tutelage, which has been running over the past nine months.

Operation Tutelage, which has been adopted by a number of forces, involves using automated systems to identify whether vehicles in use on our roads hold the correct documentation.

Where insurance is found to be lacking, registered keepers are invited by letter to correct the situation before the vehicle is once again used on the road.

Those owners who continue to ignore a reminder are then actively targeted by officers whilst on patrol.

To date, almost 1,400 letters have been sent out to owners by Wiltshire Police.

Of these, 80 per cent of recipients have been found to remedy the situation without delay, whilst another 5 per cent go on to scrap the vehicle in question.

A further 5 per cent (or 70 vehicles) have now been seized by officers both within and outside of the county, whilst the remainder sit on a very targeted active stop list.

The force is backing next week's awareness campaign to highlight the impact uninsured drivers have on their victims and the dangers they pose.

Sgt Simon Drewett, of the Roads Policing Unit, said: “The introduction of Operation Tutelage has enabled us to take a far more targeted approach.

"We are simply encouraging those that have inadvertently fallen foul of the law to remedy the situation, thereby enabling us to focus on those drivers that continue to take the risk.

"Of course, this also includes the more seasoned criminal elements, so this is not just about no insurance and the generally law abiding motorist.”

Figures from the Motor Insurers Bureau indicate that uninsured drivers are ten times more likely to have a drink drive conviction.

The vehicle itself is also around six times more likely to be used in a defective condition.

“We are trying to keep Wiltshire’s roads safe and reducing the number of uninsured vehicles in our county both directly and indirectly helps us to achieve this,” said Sgt Drewett.

“There is of course both the financial cost and personal misery associated with a collision involving an uninsured vehicle. Sadly, we are aware that over 6,000 drivers across Wiltshire continue to make this choice and our aim is to reduce this to zero.

“I would urge every driver to visit two free of charge websites that allow an instant check to be made in respect of their vehicle. For Insurance, this is the MIB led www.askmid.com web page, whilst the Driving and Transport side of www.gov.uk allows for both the MOT and Taxation status of a vehicle to be confirmed.”

Operation Tutelage was initially trialled in the Thames Valley Police area, where over the last two years it has been attributable to a significant drop in the number of uninsured vehicles in use across the three counties.

Driving without insurance carries a fixed penalty of £300 and six penalty points. If the matter goes to court, it is an obligatory endorsement of six to eight points, a discretionary disqualification and an unlimited fine.