'Travelling criminals' targeted

Police made 14 arrests during a day of action stopping cars near Bristol.

Some 389 vehicles were stopped and 64,360 registration plates scanned at sites on the Second Severn Crossing and on the M5 in Gloucestershire and M4.

Some 37 cars were being driven without insurance and cocaine and amphetamines were seized along with £26,000 cash.

One man, wanted on warrant for more than two years was arrested and taken to court. Two vehicles were running on red diesel and on recycled cooking oil.

Officers used Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology to take images of number plates which were then run through various computer databases.

Ch Supt Lawrie Lewis said: "The use of ANPR has been hugely successful in preventing travelling criminals using roads in Avon and Somerset and beyond."