ILLEGALLY parked vehicles in and around a South Lakeland town have been targeted in a four-day blitz on untaxed and uninsured motorists.

Operation Strong saw the fitting of clamps to dozens of cars and vans, some of which had been left abandoned on roads in Kendal and satellite villages.

MORE TOP STORIES:

The sting, a joint exercise involving officers from Cumbria Constabulary, South Lakeland District Council and the Driver, Vehicle Licensing Association , saw 67 cars clamped.

Prior to the start of the enforcement operation it was estimated there were approximately 90 untaxed and uninsured vehicles in the Kendal area illegally parked up on public roads.

SLDC’s neighbourhood enforcement officer John Barwise said in the past 12 months the local authority had received nearly 300 reports of abandoned vehicles.

Seventeen vehicles on Kendal’s Hallgarth estate, and in parts of Burneside, were clamped on the first day of the operation.

The operation came to an end when the multi-agency team ran out of clamps to immobilise vehicles.

Owners were given 24 hours to get their vehicle taxed or insured and they would then have to stump up a release fee. Registered keepers who fail to cough up have their vehicles impounded and then crushed if they still refuse to pay.

Day two of the operation saw clamps removed from vehicles where owners had agreed to pay up and more vehicles were targeted in other parts of Kendal including Kirkbarrow and Sandylands.

A tour of the Kirkbarrow estate saw numerous vehicles fitted with clamps while the DVLA’s van – equipped with automatic number plate recognition cameras – found many offending vehicles at every turn.

Police said that Operation Strong was borne out of community-led frustration at disused vehicles clogging up much-needed parking spaces and proving to be a nuisance to residents.

“Many people have written to ourselves and the council to report these vehicles that have been abandoned outside their houses,” said Sgt Scott-O’Neill.

“We’ve got the DVLA enforcement team with us to clamp them and they will be back in the near future to tackle more vehicles. This will be a regular event. People who haven’t taxed their vehicles and haven’t for some time, who think they can get away it, will not be able to get away with it from now on.”

PC Tom Davies added: “If you’re not going to tax your vehicle, notify it as off the road and keep it off road and then you won’t have a problem.”

As DVLA staff fitted their devices to vehicles with police providing back up to ward off any potential aggressive owners, residents emerged from their homes to point out cars and vans they wanted investigating.

While the team worked at Kirkbarrow, a resident appeared from her property to complain about one vehicle.

“It makes you wonder if the owners are joy riders,” she said. “Why would you abandon your car? If somebody is visiting you and wants to park outside your house they can’t because of these cars.”

Mr Barwise added that vehicles being abandoned in residential areas could pose a serious threat to communities.

“They’re detrimental to the area,” he said. “They are an eyesore, they can be dangerous, and they can even be targeted in arson attacks.”

It emerged that three vehicles targeted for enforcement action on one Kendal street all belonged to the same person. The registered keeper of the vehicles pleaded with police and the DVLA to allow him to move them from the highway, but the team stood firm and clamped them all.

Sgt Scott-O’Neill added: “Some people take it better than others. Some accept they don’t have tax and they should have paid it. Others think we’re picking on them for no reason and ask us if we’ve nothing better to do.

“But the main aim is remove those vehicles that are on the streets that are never going to be taxed and to make sure people who haven’t taxed their vehicles sort that out.”

By the end of day two, 37 vehicles had been clamped but with the enforcement action still in full swing, it appeared word was getting around.

Previously-uninsured and untaxed vehicles were found to have suddenly been taxed. Others had disappeared from their previous locations.

Sgt Scott-O’Neill said this was a common ploy to appease enforcers before owners cancelled their policies to recoup money.

“The message to anybody who thinks they’re going to tax a car for a month and then cancel it is that’s not going to work because we will be coming back,” she said. “The dust will settle and the cars will return.”