Deadly Distractions Motorway Cops

Tonight, caught on camera. As the motorway cops go trucking... He's

on the phone in front. ..to catch lorry drivers up to no good...

can smell it on your breath. Not only can I smell it on your breath,

I can smell it on your skin. Are you an alcoholic?. And the results

of a moment's distraction at the wheel. You're on the phone and look

up and suddenly realise the traffic has stopped and next thing you know,

you're parked in somebody's rear Last Friday's tragic accident on

the M5 near Taunton has brought the dangers of driving on Britain's

2,000 miles of motorway into sharp focus. But busy roads and a desire

to get from A to B ever faster can be a dangerous combination. There's

a vast difference between driving on a normal A or B road to driving

on a motorway because of the speeds involved. The consequences of

inattention, looking down, changing your CD, or flicking open a bag of

crisps or opening a can of pop or anything like that, on a motorway

can be catastrophic. The hub of the motorway network is in the Midlands,

a pinch point where the traffic can bunch up causing congestion.

Motorway cops Chris Perry and Chris Clarke are joining the traffic to

head towards an emergency call-out. We've been sent to a road traffic

accident. It appears to be several vehicles involved. Large goods

vehicles, there's some suggestion that the cab's come off one of them

so it could be quite serious so we need to get there ASAP. Accidents

involving heavy goods vehicles are PC Perry's worst fear. What's going

through your head is, what injuries have we got? Because when HGVs are

involved, there's big collisions. There he is here on the end. Hey!

As they pass the accident scene on the southbound carriageway... Oh

dear, that's a bit of a mess, isn't it? ..all three lanes appear to be

blocked and the fire services and ambulance crews have only just

arrived. Frustratingly, the cops have to carry on another mile to

the next junction to turn around... As well as coping with drivers

slowing for a closer look. That's your typical rubbernecking. As they

make the turn up the southbound carriageway, the full effect of the

crash can be seen. A three-mile tailback forces the cops to take to

the hard shoulder. Yeah, we're just As we arrived I could see in lane

one an articulated lorry and across lane two, at a bit of an angle, I

could see what looked like the box section of a rigid goods vehicle

which is dipping down at the front. The force of the impact has

completely ripped the back of the box van from the driver's cab. The

trailer of the 44-tonne articulated lorry has suffered some damage but

it's nothing compared with what's happened to the front of the other

lorry, a smaller and lighter vehicle. So I walked round the

front and just saw utter devastation. The whole of the

passenger side, the near side, had been completely ripped to shreds.

You're thinking the worst. Potentially we've got a fatal

accident here. Looking at the mess that was there, there was a very,

very good chance that there were severe if not fatal injuries. How

are they getting on? Hi, you all right? You all right? We've got one

male off of this, the driver of this. Adamant he doesn't want to

travel to hospital. Out exchanging details when fire's has got here.

What, has he got any injuries? None. No injuries? No injuries. He's an

exceptionally lucky man to have walked away from that. PC Perry has

seen some lucky escapes in his time but the driver of this truck may be

the luckiest yet. I mean, it's amazing, this guy, he's lost the

whole lot, he's lost the cab, you know, he needs to buy himself a

lottery ticket. I'm astonished that he's got out of that without even a

scratch. The driver was saved because the impact was on the

passenger side and fortunately there was no-one in the passenger

seat. In a lot of circumstances, you get passengers travelling in

these things. If you look at the state of this headrest, well, that

would have taken whoever's it was You can see from some of the marks

on the seats of the passenger seat of how some of the metal has

literally sliced through the seat. So if bodies had been there, you

know, a human being, then... We'd have been talking fatalities.

But even at the driver's point of view, how he's got out of that non-

injured because nothing's been moved here. The first thing the

driver of the artic knew of the impact was when the box van hit him

from behind. I was just coasting to a stop and all of a sudden, I

accelerated with a big bang and hit the gentleman in front. Because I

knew my foot was on the brake because I was coming to a stop but

all of a sudden he just accelerated and I just couldn't work out what

was happening at the time. I looked out my window, I could just see the

gentleman in this truck here and he was in one piece. But what isn't

clear is why the box van failed to slow with the rest of the traffic.

There's never such a thing as an accident. They're caused for a

reason, either mechanical or driver error. Driver error is the greatest

cause. Until they've talked to everyone involved, including the

box van driver, who failed to stop in time and who's now in the back

of PC Clarke's car, the cops won't More than 60 people are killed in

goods vehicle accidents each year. To reduce the death toll, truckers

are required by law to take regular breaks. Making sure they're doing

so is PC Angus Nairn. It's like a cat and mouse game. They're trying

to avoid me when they come down the motorway and I'm trying to find

them. What they seem to forget is I do this job for a living, I do it

day-in and day-out, they only might meet me once but I stop those

trailers numerous times and you keep getting offences. Today, he

and his fellow motorway cops have combined forces with VOSA, the

Vehicle and Operator Services Agency in a country-wide operation.

Checking up on the drivers requires specialist knowledge and PC Nairn

probably knows more than most about trucks, truckers and the tricks

they pull. I used to be in the haulage industry before I became a

police officer so it gives me that edge over drivers who think they

can flout the law and fiddle with their drivers' hours, etc. Today's

operation will check every last detail and those who fail the tests

PC Nairn has teamed up with traffic examiner, Hazel Lloyd. We're doing

a joint operation, Hazel who works for VOSA and myself, are working as

a pair, we're out here on the M6 motorway trying to find trucks that

have committed offences. They're looking for likely targets

and he thinks he's spotted one. There's an Irish truck, it's

obviously coming down from the ferry and I thought, there's a good

chance that he's driven over the hours that he should be and I want

to stop them there because the drivers have got a pressure on them

to get to destinations by certain times and they tend to break the

rules, the driving hours, to get there. Every heavy goods vehicle is

fitted with a tachograph which records how much rest the driver

has taken. So we'll just be taking him into the check site to make

sure that his documents are all in order for his tachograph, etc.

Nairn and Traffic Examiner Lloyd have brought the lorry to the

vehicle examination yard at Perry Bar just north of Birmingham.

You all right? Hiya there. Not too bad, yourself? Yes, are you? I've

seen you before, haven't we? Aye, probably, yeah. I'd like to have a

look at your paperwork, please. Yeah. I need your authorisation for

the company, driving licence and your tachographs. All right. I'm

just going to take these into the office. Oh, aye. Have you got your

driving licence with you? No, I haven't, just I took this here. For

this week just. You've got your passport. Hazel? Yeah? Do you have

a licence? I'll just do a quick check on it. Just a passport.

Thanks. The driver's failure to carry his licence with him is

making PC Nairn suspicious. Whilst we were speaking to the driver, I'd

checked on his driver's licence status with the control room, who

check DVLA's database and there was no record of him on the DVLA

database for the UK of having a licence. Which is a fair thing

because of the fact it was an Irish truck. Now Lloyd's found another

problem. His driving hours. Yes, I've got a daily rest offence. From

ending his duty yesterday until starting again in the early hours

of this morning, he's had only seven hours and 24 minutes rest,

the minimum he needed was nine. So Hiya. Hello. Yes, yes... Can I just

talk to you about your charts? yeah, yeah, yeah. Problem I've got

is that between you finishing yesterday and you starting again

last night, in the early hours of this morning, you've only had seven

But, er... It's not enough daily rest. See this here, right? Did you

sleep yesterday? Oh, aye, yes. slept on the ferry? Yeah, and I

slept here. And you slept for not quite two hours this morning?

I stopped for about an hour and 50 minutes. I intend to learn this as

much as I can... But PC Nairn reckons the driver should know the

drill already. Drivers always try it on, but when they tell you they

don't know what they're doing, that's when I start disbelieving

them. While PC Nairn tries to get to the bottom of the problem,

further north on the M6, at the scene of the accident involving two

lorries and a car, the traffic has started moving again. While the

backlog clears, the cops continue to investigate who caused the crash.

Sergeant Steve Robinson has now taken charge and is being briefed

by PC Clarke. It appears - this is the Volkswagen - it's obviously run

into the back of this artic, and the cab's gone right through, and

basically it's taken the box off the back of the chassis. Now, with

an accident of that nature, even though there was nobody injured, I

started to form the opinion that offences had been committed. So I

need to make sure that all of the drivers have been spoken to, that

they're interviewed, that we can get an indication of exactly what's

happened. The cops might have been able to find a clue in the box

van's tachograph, but it's been destroyed in the crash. However,

all the evidence points to the driver of the box van as the person

at fault. And he's in the back of PC Clarke's car. How did the

collision occur? Tell me one sentence at a time, I've got to

write it down, yeah? I was just travelling down here and they all

jammed their anchors on, next I jammed mine on and I was a bit

close, I had to pull out and clipped the side of the cab.

driver's story is that the traffic stopped suddenly, but other

motorists tell it differently. take it you were slowing down nice

and slowly, were you? Yeah. It's wasn't a... Yeah, because... I've

spoken to this guy, and he just said, "Oh, yeah, you were slowing

down, in another second we would have been stopped." So you used a

nice, steady, controlled slowdown? Well, that's it, then. Yeah.

didn't brake hard or anything like that? No, we were literally just...

I had loads of gap to the next car. It looks like the box-van driver

had plenty of time to stop but for some reason failed to do so. Have

you suffered any mechanical defects with the vehicle? Not really, no.

Sergeant Robinson now has an idea of the sequence of events. What I

had established at the scene was that the articulated vehicle had

actually stopped. It was as a result of the collision between the

rigid goods vehicle that had run into the back of the articulated

vehicle, which then pushed that articulated vehicle into the rear

of the Cavalier. It's crunch-time for the box-van driver. Whose fault

was the accident, and why? Must be mine, mustn't it? He knew he'd

shown a lack of attention and he'd caused the accident. The driver of

the cab, that's been very lucky and very fortunate, for some reason,

hasn't braked until the very last minute, so he's been doing

something, and clearly, from our point of view, he's driving without

due care and attention. Not only could he have killed himself or

others, other passengers in his vehicle, he could have killed any

other members of the public on the road. And that's extremely

dangerous. And that shows you, like, a moment of inattention, even at 50,

60 mph, that's the damage it can cause. Lack of attention is the

cause of nearly 40% of accidents every year. My bag's not turned up,

has it? Your bag? Yeah. You can You told your bosses? Yeah, yeah...

INDISTINCT We'll do that, then. Just bear with

us a minute. The driver was, I think, still in shock. I don't

think he realised the sheer gravity of what had actually happened, of

how lucky he was. I think it was only when he looked back at his cab

and realised that he might not have Clearly, it's quite a shocking

incident. It's an incident that you probably would only ever be

involved in once in your lifetime, and the scene was actually quite

devastating, so I think that would have quite a big impact on any

individual, that one moment you can be OK, the next moment, total

devastation. At Perry Barr in north Birmingham, the lorry driver caught

exceeding his driving hours is being grounded by VOSA examiner

Hazel Lloyd. Effective from now... Yes? I'm going to put you on nine

hours' rest, OK? Yes. I'll ask you to park in the lay-by just outside

there, all right? Right. If I can just bring this to your attention.

If you do decide to drive off, if you see an opportunity and we're

not looking... HE LAUGHS

I'll hardly bother for that, now! Meanwhile, PC Angus Nairn is using

the time to make some more inquiries into the man's missing

driving licence. There was something in the back of my mind

that just didn't sit easily with me. There was something there that I

had to find out about. I had to do a bit more digging. I had to get to

the bottom of the fact. What was really wrong here? I'm not given up

yet. I'm going to make an inquiry with the Garda, to see if he's got

the licence that he needs, because we've got no record of him in the

UK and there's not a Northern Irish one, so... He says she's got a

Southern Irish licence. I'll check that just now. Don't know how he's

got a Southern Irish licence when he lives in the north, right enough.

But we'll find it. He was claiming that he had a Southern Irish

driver's licence and he'd held this licence for a couple of years. So

the first phone call was going to be to the Garda in the South of

Ireland, just to find out, did they have a record of this lad? VOICE ON

RADIO: 'I have only...three matches. 'None of them match the name, first

name, 'and none of them match the date of birth.' That's no problem.

Thanks for looking. After drawing a blank with the Southern Irish

driver's licence, I then contacted the Northern Irish Driver's Licence

Agency. Fantastic. Thanks again, Graham. Cheers, pal. Bye now. And

they confirmed the suspicions that I'd had for some time. Hazel?

My man, Padraig. Yes? He's only a provisional licence holder. Really?

And in Northern Ireland. So, Northern Ireland and the UK are the

same thing, so provisional licence holder, full-stop. It beggars

belief to think that he's got the nerve to drive that truck up and

down the motorway and the roads in Britain, putting everybody's life

in danger, when he's never even sat a test. So...I'll wake him up in a

wee while and give him that news and I'll deal with him the way he

should be dealt with, the way that I was looking to deal with him

earlier on but just couldn't get enough evidence and information.

But now I've got it I can now go ahead and prosecute him the way I

was intending to. Two hours later, PC Nairn is about to give the lorry

driver who has no licence a rude awakening. I'm about to go and

waken him up out of his beauty sleep and tell him that he's going

to have to get his things together because he ain't going to be

driving this truck away from here. There's a large number of drivers

that don't have the proper licence to drive trucks. Drivers will try

and blag their way into a job. They might well be able to drive the

truck but they're daft enough to actually put people's lives at risk

by jumping into the driver's seat of one of these trucks and bimbling

off down the road, blissfully unaware that if they were to kill

somebody, or be involved in an accident where somebody was

seriously injured, they're looking at custodial sentences.

Have you had some sleep now? aye, yes. We'll get this whole

thing sorted out. We're getting it sorted out - there's good news and

bad news. What do you want first? Give me both. It doesn't matter.

I'll give you the good news. You don't have to wait for your nine

hours' prohibition. Yes? You can go home any time. So that's the good

news. Right. The bad news is you'll not be driving the truck. Yeah, but

see... But see, but see... I've got a thing here that tells me that you

don't have a licence. You don't have a licence to drive a truck or

a licence to drive a car. You've a provisional, but that means you've

got to have L-plates and a supervisor. Have you ever sat a

test to drive a truck? Yeah, I have. Where? In Recess and Dundalk. I

have done that. Right, well, the South don't have any record at all

of you. I don't know how this thing's happened. And you don't

come up as having a record in the South of Ireland for a driver's

licence. But that's beside the point because, in the North, you're

only a provisional licence-holder. Only last year you were given six

points. I'm going to give you even more because you're going to have

to go to court. And the six you've got, and then the rest I'm going to

give you, because it'll be six for driving without insurance, and

another three for driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.

But I'm satisfied at the minute that you're going no further with

this truck. The driver wasn't arrested for the offence because

it's not an arrestable offence, to be driving without a licence for

either a car or a track, unfortunately. If it was an

arrestable offence then we'd maybe get some more people off the road,

prevent a lot more accidents from happening and save you and I a lot

of money in our expensive insurance premiums. The truck is being driven

to the pound where it will remain until a qualified driver is

available to continue the journey south. At night time, traffic on

the motorway network is often much lighter than during the day. Most

of the heavy lorries have parked up for the night leaving the roads to

the cars and vans. But the motorway at night has its own problems and

tired drivers are one of the major worries for the motorway cops. It's

3am and PCs Jess Rojek and Gary Williams have been called to an

accident near Stoke-on-Trent. just had a report that there's a

vehicle overturned on the M6 southbound between 14 and 13. There

are a couple of crews in attendance, they've just got there and updated

the control room. It would appear it's on its roof and a person is

trapped. It would also appear that there's an ambulance on the scene

at the moment. We don't know what the state the casualties are in. I

dare say we'll get an update in a moment as to whether it will be

serious. We will have to go there reasonably quickly to get there in

the best possible time. The cops don't routinely drive at high speed

but the crash is more than 40 miles away and the emergency crews on

scene need all the help they can get. It was one of my first blue

light runs that I'd done since coming onto motorway, and it was

fast, it had to be fast. When you are driving at those speeds you

have to remain calm and focused. You are aware of the consequences,

if you lose concentration even for a second. Just that one lack of

judgment can destabilise the car. It's quite draining when you get to

the end of it. A further update is now coming through on the radio.

I'm told it's a female pedestrian, who was walking down the

carriageway. I have got an ambulance on scene and am trying to

get some more information as to what's been going on. OK, thank you.

From what I've just caught, it sounds like there was a breakdown.

Somebody's been walking up the hard shoulder, presumably to get to an

emergency phone, and another car ..which means there's a good chance

the injuries are going to be either fatal or, um, life-changing.

that point, I didn't know if it was a fatality or not and that's what I

was thinking, this is going to be a fatal collision. We need to get

there to try and save lives. not sure if this particular stretch

of carriageway is lit or not. As you can see, we've just gone into

an unlit carriageway. If the vehicle is dark, it's on its roof

in the carriageway, yet people have been driving for some time, they're

tired they don't see it till the last minute or they don't see it at

all, what is a one-vehicle RTC may well become three or four. If we

get something like a truck hitting it, then we can be looking at an

altogether bigger collision. There it is. There was one vehicle that

was overturned, the fire crew was there working on it which again

lends itself to the fact it may be a serious injury or fatal. From

what we saw it looked a pretty nasty scene. The motorway cops'

priority is to ensure the safety of rescue crews who are working on the

unlit carriageway just feet from the traffic. We're going to close

lane two as well. The first thing we have to do when we get there is

make the scene safe, regardless of who's screaming and shouting. In

fact it's good if people are screaming and shouting because you

know they're still alive. It's when the scene is deathly quiet that you

start to worry. While the cops close off lane two, the fire

brigade are busying try to cut free a woman passenger from the wreckage

of her car. PC Rojek has been a motorway cop for just four months

and sticks close to PC Williams. With every job that I'm going to on

the motorway, it's all new. There is lots to learn. Luckily I've got

Gaz who guides me through it all. When we got to the scene I was

thinking that potentially there was still going to be serious injury or

a fatality involved in this collision. There was just one car

actually overturned and damaged as far as we could see at that stage.

It may well be something as simple as the driver's fallen asleep or

lost control of the car or swerved to avoid something. The vehicle has

obviously spun round and overturned. More than 20 fire-fighters are on

scene led by watch manager, Ian Moss. As soon as I made contact

with the ambulance personnel I was informed that there was one female

casualty, going downhill rapidly in But the woman in the car is not the

only casualty. There is also, I believe at this stage, an injured

pedestrian. She has actually driven past this overturned car here.

She's been walking back to see if everybody is OK and whilst she's

been walking back down the hard shoulder towards this car, she's

then been taken out by another car who was trying to avoid the

overturned car. It turned out that there was more to it. There was a

lorry parked further down which had been involved in the collision.

While the fire crew battled to cut the woman free, the cops still have

to solve the mystery of who's to 40 miles south in Birmingham city

centre, PCs Martin Smith and Simon Breckles are halfway through their

12-hour shift. They're parked up just off the motorway looking out

for suspicious cars. As we were sitting waiting for traffic to pass,

there was a Golf which brought our attention. It was an old car. Are

we after this Volkswagen then? We might as well check in, it looks a

bit of a tatty heap, doesn't it? I'll run that through and check it

for insurance. Oscar Tango nine six... They know the drivers of

tatty heaps often don't bother about details like insurance.

report no insurance. Ah-ha! MoT expired 19th August. Ho-ho! It's

going to be a code one on Bagot Street in the city centre. The

reason why we stopped this one, it looked like a bit of an old banger.

We checked it out on the PNC and it's got no insurance and the MoT's

expired. Do you want to take a seat in there. Hello, mate, how are you

doing? Not bad, how are you? Yes, not too bad. Has my colleague said

why you've been stopped? insurance? There's a couple of

things really, OK? No insurance and no MoT. OK? So, we're going to ask

you straight up now to save us going round the houses and making

phone calls and keeping you here for ever, are you insured? OK. And

the MoT has run out? Yes. OK. A lot of people do cough because they

know full well that once we check on the police national computer the

vehicle comes back with no insurance. It doesn't take an awful

lot to find out the vehicle is not insured. We'll keep it nice and

simple. The facts are going to be reported. You may be prosecuted for

the offence of using a vehicle with no insurance and an out-of-date MoT.

The downside to it is we have powers to seize vehicles from

uninsured or unlicensed drivers. You are uninsured so the vehicle

will be seized. OK? You know the risks, you took the chance, you

came out in it and it's just unfortunate that you got captured

driving. It's not his lucky night. But he's holding no grudges.

guys are so much nicer than...other police guys. I don't know what your

experiences are in the past, obviously, but we try and do the

right thing. We try and be fair and reasonable. We've got no reason to

be anything but... It is my fault, and I'm not going to deny it. It's

my fault but you're being nice about it. That's what I appreciate.

We're not going to go over the top here. What does it achieve? Nothing

at all. You've done it, you've been caught out. We're doing the

paperwork, we'll be nice to you and you'll be gone. But, the nice cops

are still going to take his car away. Can I just get a couple of

things out of the car? Yes, yes. Absolutely no problem at all. What

do you want and I'll go and get it for you? Can I get it myself?

OK to get it, just go with him, he'll be all right. There's no

suggestion the driver will make a run for it, but PC Breckles is

making sure. Just in case. If you want to leave it, leave it. Whilst

he's going back to the police vehicle, I just glance into the

back seat. Take your seat again, fella. Rather than pull up outside

your door, do you want us to drop you somewhere near your house?

But the pleasant atmosphere is about to be broken. In the back

seat is a baseball bat. What's this for, fellow? It's been in there for

days, for ever. Honestly, it's nothing of the sort you're thinking.

That was on the back seat. Baseball bats are for baseball. If he was

playing baseball, we'd accept anything he'd say. If he was in the

middle of a football pitch, in the middle of an open bit of grass land,

anything like that. He could say, "I was playing baseball" and we'd

have no way of saying otherwise. Why do you carry it on the back

seat? Someone moved it from the thingy to the back seat. From the

where? From the boot. Why? always in my car. Why is it in the

car? Self-defence, probably. Self- defence? Self defence is the wrong

answer. I think we're just about to compound your misery. You said it's

in there for self-defence, mate. You're under arrest. Really? Yes,

suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon. You've just told

us it's self- defence. You can't carry it, mate. In the middle of

Birmingham City Centre, in a car which is not insured and you've got

a baseball bat sitting on the back seat. Oh, no, come on, man. I've

never got in a fight in my life. You've just told me that's for

self- defence. It's an offensive weapon. You're always going to get

arrested, especially if you say, "It's for self-defence". You've got

no excuse to have a baseball bat for self-defence. We'll have to do

the formalities. Oh... We've got to arrest you now. That's why I said,

"Why is it in the car? You said, "Self-defence." This is a joke.

I've never been in a fight in my life. Honestly, swear to God.

You're under arrest on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon.

When I said, "What's it for?" You said, "Self defence, I suppose."

When you say that, that puts it into a whole different ball-game.

It's being treated as an offensive weapon because if you're saying

self-defence it means you're going to be using it to hit somebody with.

One of the best forms of self- defence sometimes is to just run

away. You've been a bit of a fool to yourself, haven't you? I didn't

realise that... I'd rather not to have done that to you. I've never...

What the hell do you carry something like that in your car

for? Just it's been in my case, it's a gift from a friend from

years ago. It's always in my car. I've got to act on what you said.

didn't know you guys were strict like that. As his car is taken away,

back on the M6 rescue workers are still trying to free the woman

passenger trapped in an overturned car. While they cut her out, PC

Williams has been working out what may have caused the crash.

events unfolded, the initial reports we were getting was that

the driver of the overturned vehicle had started to fall asleep.

The passenger in that vehicle had actually seen that, grabbed the

wheel and the vehicle had gone out of control to such an extent that

it overturned and came to rest on the carriageway. It was the first

in a horrifying sequence of events. What had happened is another

vehicle had gone past the overturned vehicle, obviously the

driver saw it there, and it was a lady driving that vehicle. She'd

stopped on the hard shoulder and started to walk back to the

overturned vehicle. At which point, another car comes down, um, over-

reacts to what's in the carriageway, and spins out of control. The car

starts veering, it goes onto the hard shoulder, hits the lady that's

walking back to the car, and we've now got another casualty to deal

with. The woman who stopped to help miraculously escaped with just a

broken leg. Seconds later, a lorry was also involved and PC Williams

thinks the driver may be able to shed more light on events.

Obviously, I was coming around the bend, I was following another Royal

Mail artic. Right, OK. He's done a violent swerve to the right. Right.

I've gone, "What's he doing?" You couldn't see it because it was on

its roof. Yeah, and it's dark as well. I've gone to swerve, I looked

that side but there was a car alongside so I couldn't move.

I've gone, "What is it?" and then bang. There's actually been a

couple of collisions as a result of what's happened here tonight. The

guy that I was dealing with was one of the drivers of the artic convey

that was coming down. Basically, he's done his best to miss this one

that's overturned but unfortunately he's clipped it and spun it round

while the people were still trapped in it. You couldn't write something

like that. Unless people see it they probably wouldn't believe it.

Although the car has been badly damaged in the crash, the driver is

unhurt and on the way to hospital. The woman passenger is not so lucky.

There's been a lot of cutting done to the car. We've had to remove the

passenger side door, go in through the back of the car and remove the

back seats and do further cutting so she could come out on the spine

board. For everyone the events have been a shocking reminder of the

The woman survivor, now on her way to hospital, has had an incredible

escape. It's just amazing that nobody's been killed. Everybody's

out, everybody's talking, everybody's alive, that's a good

result. I'm just glad that nobody's By daybreak, the motorway is

already getting busy as the truckers take to the roads. But

amongst the early risers today are two motorway cops in a secret

weapon. A seven-tonne lorry cab driven by PC Angus Nairn who's on a

special operation with his colleague PC Steve Gamble. Today

we're using this truck as part of Operation Parochial. It's an

operation that we do from time to time to catch truck drivers, van

drivers, anybody that happens to be committing the offence of using a

mobile phone, driving without due care and attention, watching the TV

whilst they're driving along the road, things that you wouldn't

normally see if you were in a normal police patrol car. Because

truckers are so high off the ground, officers in ordinary police cars

simply can't see in to check on what they're up to. Things that you

don't normally get to see from an unmarked car that we can actually

see from the truck. As we drive along, what we're looking for is

people who are on the phone, people who are distracted when they're

driving and then we use the other lads in the intercept car behind us,

we call them up, they come along and they stop the vehicle that

we've video-ed using the camera - Steve has. The intercept team of PC

Steve Sampson and Steve Rounds hangs back. PC Rounds knows the

stakes are high. If the driver of a car is looking down into their lap

because they're texting, then they'll hit the back of the car in

front. But with a truck, it not only hits the back of the car in

front, it drives over it and the next four cars ahead. The cops are

already gathering lots of evidence on tape. We can in a way sneak up

on people and catch them red-handed. Some people might criticise the

fact that we are using a truck but only those people that are doing

something wrong are the ones that complain. Quite rightly they've got

a reason to complain because they get penalty points and a big fine

from us. They're going to hate us, hate us with a vengeance. That just

makes the job a bit more satisfying when we know that we've made their

day. Just give him a warning. HORN TOOTS

I suppose you could regard it as a spy in the cab because we are

spying straight into their cab. spy in the cab is clearly a

surprise to many truckers. I was just checking a message, that was

On the steering wheel, his dinner. He's on the phone, Sarge. Too late

for the smile. You learn the hard way, don't you? I've just learnt

the hard way. People might say, "It's a waste of time, "it's a

waste of money" but when we can prove we're catching people doing

really bad things, and serious offences that could cause serious

injury to somebody, we can turn around and say, "That's the reason

we're doing it." 20 miles north on the M6, PCs Martin Smith and Simon

Breckles are also targeting drivers who are not paying attention to the

road ahead. They're using an unmarked car to catch motorists

using their mobile phones. The M6 motorway is renowned for being

stop/start. One minute it's flowing, the next minute traffic comes to a

grinding halt, there's no obvious reason for that and all of a sudden

you're faced with three lines of standing traffic in front of you.

The moment's inattention will come when you're on the phone, you'll

look up and suddenly realise that the traffic has stopped and the

next thing you know you're parked in somebody's rear end. He's on his

phone. In the blue van? Yeah. Brilliant, well done. Is he off it

now or still on it? He's off it now. Off it now. Well, tough. Last year

in the UK, nearly 170,000 drivers were guilty of using their phones

whilst driving. SIRENS BLARE

No excuses, no quarter for people on the phone, I'm afraid. People

know it's against the law. They've known that for some time, yet

people persistently use a mobile phone and the message possibly

hasn't got across as effectively as it should. Some people never learn,

another one on the phone. To me, that's a pet hate. I will deal with

it and deal with it robustly. People will get tickets and they

will go to court. They'd no reason to believe it'd be anything other

than the standard, "You're on the phone, OK, there's your ticket,

three points gone." Little did we know it was going to turn into a

saga. The reason why we stopped you, do you have any idea? Um...go on.

Take a stab in the dark. What was you doing just? Driving? With what?

What was in your right hand? Nothing. Mobile telephone. There

wasn't. Your mobile phone was to your ear. Do you have it with you,

sir? Sorry? Where's your phone now? the van? In the... Down the side, I

believe. So if we get your phone, it won't show anything happening on

we've got the power to seize the phone as evidence of an offence. So

we're just asking you to be honest with us now. We've seen you on the

phone. I was checking the time. Checking the time? Yes. PC Smith's

calling time on that excuse. A Vito does but it's an hour forward. I

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 159 seconds

couldn't work it out. I don't If the trucker didn't know he was

The fact the driver remained on his phone worries PC Nairn. He's that

busy concentrating on his phone call, there's no way he can be

aware of what's going on around him. And if somebody needs to stop in a

hurry, then if he doesn't see it happening, he's going straight into

the back of them. Then Steve and myself will then be sent up there

to deal with an accident that could have been avoided because he should

have been paying more attention. So I have no sympathy for him. He's

going to get what he deserves, these points on his licence and a

fine. Come and have a seat. Have a seat in the car for me. Have a seat

in the police car. Have a seat in the police car, please. Yeah, OK,

can I just get my phone? Yeah. The driver seems to have forgotten

something. When the driver went back to the cab, what he did was

stand on the steps on the driver's side. He seemed to linger a bit,

and that's odd. He seemed to be messing for what seemed like an age,

was probably 15-20 seconds, in the cab. Come out the way. I'm afraid

you can't stand round the side of the truck fannying around. Now have

a seat in the police car. All right? You're standing on the

dangerous side of the traffic with your truck door open and I want to

have a word with you about your phone. Have a seat in there, please.

The trucker's odd behaviour is making PC Rounds suspicious. Hello,

driver. Now, driver, I don't know what you're trying to do but you're

putting yourself and us in danger. I don't want to stand on the hard

shoulder of the motorway waiting for you to mess around in your cab.

Sorry. When I say I want to speak to you in the police car, I want to

speak to you in the police car to keep you safe, to keep me safe, and

so that we can talk in a nice quiet atmosphere. All right? I just got

this smell coming from the back of the car, floating over the headrest

towards me. I was on the phone. Have you got your licence at all?

Yes. With you? Well, in the lorry. Do you want me to get it? No,

you've spent enough time looking around by the lorry. I had it on

the passenger side. Stay here, talk to my colleague. Where is your

licence, and I'll go and fetch it. In the... Oh, God... I can't

remember where it is. Well, you were going to fetch it. You're not

instilling me with any confidence, driver. In the... Can I go and get

it, it'll be just as easy. Right, give me the keys, and I'll nip back

and get it. PC Rounds is taking the opportunity to have a look around

the cab to see what the driver was up to. Is the vehicle a manual or

auto? An auto. For business use at the moment, yeah? Pardon? It's

business use you're on? Right then, driver. I know you're chewing an

Airwave. We both know why you went back to get an Airwave. You've been

drinking alcohol. I can smell it on your breath. In fact, not only can

I smell it on your breath, I can smell it on your skin. Are you an

alcoholic? No. You've got a can of Tennent's Super half-drunk in the

cab in your centre console. Have you got rid of the Airwave in your

mouth? No. Open the window, please, or open the door, drop the Airwave

out of the car. When did you last have a drink? Oh...last night.

What's that can of Tennent's Super, still fizzy, doing open there? It's

from last night. The smell that was coming off him was just too strong

for it to have been last night's drinking and from just one can. You

do get a sixth sense. And... Having got the smell coming from the back

of the car, looking into his eyes, his eyes were just yellow, yellow

and bloodshot, and then I started thinking that perhaps things were a

bit more serious than I first thought when I first got that smell.

Further south, PC Simon Breckles and Martin Smith are still trying

to find the phone they believe was being used by the driver. It's

proving elusive. I checked every inch of that van. He said, "I

haven't got it in my pockets,'" he looked through his pockets. I think

he put it down his trousers. If they can locate it, they may be

able to prove he was on a call. The reason I'm trying to get hold

of your company is I'm trying to find out which pocket your phone is

It's not in the van because there's absolutely no telephones in the van.

There's just the hands-free equipment. When I ask them for your

mobile phone, do you think it'll ring in one of your pockets? I can

strip right here for you, if you like. I'm not going to ask you to

do that, I've got no power to search you. I've said I'm happy to

be stripped so... I know there's something not right because looking

into that van, there's nowhere that Hello? Hello, I MPs meet -- and PC

Smith. Oh have your bottom the police car with me. We have a

problem, he can't find his mobile phone. Can you tell me his number?

Thanks for your time. Goodbye. At least we will be able to find the

phone now, won't we? Now he has done an's number, PC Smith makes

the call. -- he has demand's number. Is it open, or on silent? I don't

know. It's not ringing in here. I suspect he was under the assumption

that if he had hit -- hid the fact with can't find the mobile

court we will go to court. It is in his pocket. He switched it on this

island. He put it in his pocket. Or in his trousers. But PC Smith

something that made me suspicious it was quite noticeable that he put

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 159 seconds

was making sure there was something You do smell to me as if you're a

regular drinker, and it's just All right? I acknowledge the fact

that you're saying you had a drink last night, but there's an open can

of Tennent's Super half drunk near to your centre console. Deep

breaths, let me hold the machine, seal your lips around the tube and

blow until I tell you to stop. Blow. Keep going, harder, harder, harder.

Keep going. OK. Right, we're analysing that. I'll try and hold

it so you can see it, it's a bit difficult. You've failed that test.

You've blown what that says there. 92. 35 is the limit. What it means

is you are two-and-half times the limit. You're joking! I wouldn't

joke about something like that, would I? So, you're under arrest...

I'd never have believed it. ..on suspicion of driving with alcohol

on your breath. I'd never have believed it. You're over the limit.

You're under caution, is there anything you want to say? I

just...couldn't... Just don't believe it. OK. I think it would be

more accurate to say he didn't want to believe it. Because he didn't

exhibit a lot of the outward signs of drink-driving, or somebody under

the influence of drink, i.e. He wasn't particularly unsteady on his

feet, his speech wasn't slurred, when we got that reading, which was

approaching three times the legal drink-drive limit, that did come as

quite a shock. Bloody hell, I'd never have believed it. You drive a

44-tonne lorry at 56 miles an hour and don't react quick enough, and

go in to the back of a car, there is going to be damage. There is

going to be injury. There's a good chance there's going to be a

fatality. Oh, well. It's all right tutting, mate, but at the end of

the day, you're the one that's been drinking, isn't it? Oh, well. It's

all right tutting, mate, but at the end of the day, you're the one

that's been drinking, isn't it? Well, I didn't think it was that

much, I honestly didn't. Well, I'm not going to sit here and call you

a liar but I can quite confidently say if you had three cans of beer

last night, you wouldn't be blowing 92. It wasn't last night, though,

was it? Yes. No, it wasn't. Not to blow that reading. You expect to

find your drink drivers late in the night, early in the mornings on the

weekend. What you don't expect to find is someone in the afternoon

rush hour on Friday afternoon drunk, and so drunk that they're

registering off the scale, really, when you take them out of the cab.

For him to be driving a 44-tonne truck in those circumstances, it's

just a killing machine. Now, the priority is to get the driver to

the police station to confirm the reading. That means PC Nairn will

move the truck off the motorway. I can smell the alcohol. He must have

been drinking all day. You know, you can't have a good night out and

still be 92 the following day at half-past four in the afternoon.

You'd have to be drinking cans of lager throughout the day. I mean,

that guy's got a serious problem. He shouldn't be behind the wheel of

anything. You know, either a pushchair, or even a car itself. PC

Nairn makes a further check of the cab. It seems like... ..our man...

Likes to drink more than he drives. Special Brew. Best of stuff. That's

9% volume. I think this one's 9% as well. Yeah, both 9%. So there's...

..10 cans. He was in for a good night. But he'll be having a very

different night tonight. He said, "I WAS a lorry driver." I think he

knew. He knew how much he'd had to drink. He knew what the machine was

going to come back. He knew he was going to be over and what his fate

was. Blow. It's been approximately two hours since he blew nearly

three times the limit at the roadside. But this is the test that

counts. Right, you can sit down and take a rest now. Right, the

readings there are 73 and 69, so we'll go on 69. So that's still

over the limit? That is just under... Just under twice the legal

limit. In that two hours, you have lost some alcohol from your body,

but you're still, two hours after we stopped you driving, double the

drink-drive limit. I really am surprised. If we hadn't taken him

off the road in the state he was in, bearing in mind he's probably been

in that state most days he's been out driving his truck, then I think

we've saved somebody's life. Let's look at what this bloke was doing.

He was driving a big truck, 44 tonnes, at twice the drink-drive

limit. If that's not criminal, I don't know what is. The trucker who

was just under twice the legal limit was convicted of drink-

driving, fined �115 and banned for 18 months. The driver who couldn't

find his phone didn't pay his ticket but no further action was

taken against him. The man with the baseball bat in his car was

cautioned for possessing an offensive weapon. He was also fined

�525 and received six points on his licence for driving without

insurance. The driver of the overturned car was convicted of

driving without due care and attention and received a �250 fine

and eight points on his licence. The trucker who exceeded his

driving hours was convicted of driving on a provisional licence,

fined �315, and received six points on his licence. And the driver of