Hide and Seek Motorway Cops

Get ready for the runners.

-Come out, come out, wherever you are.

-We need a dog really.

Tonight, it's hide and seek...

There's three lads out of this car, they've done a runner.

-..as identities are checked...

-When we ask your name, you give your name.

what's on your licence and your passport, not some Micky Duff details.

-..motives are questioned...

-It might have been a bit of vanity.

It's nothing to do with avoiding anything.

..evidence uncovered...

Here, Sarge! Here it is. Got it.

They're going for it.

..and criminals on the highways are stopped in their tracks...

On the floor! on the floor!

These people aren't going to get away from the motorway police.

They're on our patch and we will stop them.

It's coming up to midnight and PC Adam Toal and PC Paul Owen are on patrol

on a quiet B road just north of Bromsgrove.

When you're out on patrol, you're always scanning,

you're always looking

for vehicles with somebody in it that doesn't sit right.

Oh, yep.

Look at that.

Seeing a van with no lights, the cops turn to catch up.

Tango 43, for a check, please.

But they start to think there may be more of a problem

than just a forgetful driver.

He's all over the road, mate, he is.

You start thinking, well, if they haven't got their lights on,

maybe there's something else...

They've had a drink, or they're high on drugs or stolen the vehicle.

Go for it now, mate.

Despite the flashing police lights,

it's clear the driver has no intention of stopping.

PG.

PG-zero-five-ADB.

As they follow the van into a pub car park,

the cops prepare for the two men to bail out.

Get ready for the runners.

But instead of dumping the van and running for freedom,

the driver heads to the far end of the car park

and then doubles back,

making a break for it...

'Normally, if you get a vehicle failing to stop,

'they'll jump out the vehicle, leave it and make off on foot.'

On this occasion, they didn't do that.

They've done a U-turn and come straight back.

..leaving the cops struggling to turn their car round to catch up.

Mike Alpha. Mike Alpha from Oscar Tango 43.

We've got a vehicle failing to stop.

'43, yeah, with a vehicle failing to stop. Where are you?'

Where are we? They've gone back on the main road, mate.

'I just catch some headlights...'

..going the one way...

which I thought were possibly brake lights from this van,

so we've gone that way.

Stand by. We're at Leckey Hills.

Has he gone this way?

Yeah, this way.

And it's the B4096, Rose Hill

and we're heading in the general direction of Leckey.

Where's he gone, mate?

He's nipped off, mate, somewhere.

It's a current loss at the moment. It's around this area somewhere.

I think he's gone back that way, you know.

While PC Toal makes a U-turn,

PC Owen gets on the radio for more help.

The registration I passed you,

it was going in the opposite direction with no lights on.

It was a white van. Two white male occupants onboard.

Turned onto a pub car park, doubled back

and has disappeared out of view. Received, over.

You get frustrated because you think, potentially we've lost that vehicle,

we've lost the criminals in it,

we don't really know why they failed to stop.

I reckon that's just been nicked you know, mate.

The front seat passenger looked pissed.

Valuable minutes have been lost, but a drunk driver in a stolen van is worth searching for.

It's in this area somewhere that is, mate.

Now, what's that there, mate?

And half a mile up the road, PC Toal spots something.

-See it?

-Yeah.

-That's it, innit?

-Yeah.

'They've obviously made good their escape but...'

they always leave telling signs behind.

It's insecure as well, mate.

Mike Alpha Oscar Tango...

Four three. Over.

Mike Alpha, can we get a dog handler down here at all?

They've obviously done one. Looks like it's possible stolen.

The passenger's door's open,

but strangely the driver has taken the trouble to lock his door.

I'll just check the chassis over, mate.

With the driver and passenger nowhere in sight, PC Toal checks

the van's details to trace where the owner lives.

Yeah, that's all received. It obviously is a genuine vehicle.

I don't know if you're able to get someone to pop to the address,

I don't think it's a million miles from here.

Can we organise recovery of the vehicle as it's insecure, please?

It's just a works van, loads of tools in the back.

There's no reports on the vehicle, it's not suggested that it's stolen.

Erm, there's a good chance that it may be the genuine keeper

who's had a drink, abandoned it

and will probably report it stolen sometime tonight,

which is an attempt, obviously, to get off with a drink-drive aspect.

Whoever was driving it may not have run very far...

..and there are plenty of places to hide.

-Need a dog really, don't we?

-Yeah.

Cos I don't want to walk over there and tread it all down.

We know we're only seconds behind them.

When they've abandoned that vehicle and they've made off on foot,

there's not enough time for them to get too far away.

-I didn't see this floodlight on when we come down.

-No.

That's where they've gone, over there.

Finding them in the dark will be a tall order,

unless they can get help to pick up the trail.

We're waiting for confirmation that we've got a dog available.

If we haven't then...

Well, they've got away.

I don't like losing people.

Especially drunks.

Ditching a van in a quiet cul-de-sac is one thing.

But when it comes to the motorway,

an abandoned vehicle can have serious consequences.

Over on the M6, motorway cops Chris Clarke and Kevin Shail

have been called to the scene of an accident in the fast lane.

Had a report that a car's broken down in lane three.

That's been hit by another vehicle,

so it's probably an unlit section of motorway where we're going between 50 and 60.

Three people have crossed the opposing carriageway

and are now walking away.

So obviously potential dangers to people on there,

whether or not anybody's injured as well...

So we've got to get up there fairly quickly.

An accident in the unlit section of the motorway

is the cop's worse nightmare and for good reason.

If you've got a car in the middle of the road

or even on the hard shoulder and it's unlit,

it only takes somebody who's not paying proper attention...

So it's a very dangerous situation.

'When you're on your way there, information is sketchy at best

'and you've got to be prepared to deal with the worst.'

You want to get there quickly because you want to protect the scene

and prevent other people getting hurt or even killed.

As they arrive, the Highways Agency are already on scene.

Well, apparently, what we're trying to piece together is that

he's gone into the central reservation.

Luckily no one's been injured,

although several motorists have become involved in the incident

after being overtaken by a fast-moving car.

About...I would say about a mile and a half after he'd passed,

he was the other way round, facing south, basically. Yeah.

It seems the driver of the car, a Citroen Saxo, caused the accident.

Basically, what's happened, the Saxo's overtaken this lady

at speed and as it's been doing so, it's lost control

and has crashed through the central barrier.

Various trucks have avoided the wreckage.

This lady's braked, and in doing so, has lost control, skidded

and ended up in the middle of the carriageway.

Having crashed their car,

the lads inside have decided not to hang around.

It looks... Have you been told? We passed it on...

There's three lads out of this car, they've done a runner

-across the carriageway.

-Which way have they gone?

-They went northbound.

-North?

-Across and northbound.

Our lot's got them on camera, apparently.

There was two or three chaps in the car.

They got out before I'd even...

even thought about anything.

And, basically, went on the southbound heading north, walking.

So they wasn't even going to stay around anyway.

The woman has her own theories about why the men ran away.

No insurance. No licence. They shouldn't be on the road.

At the end of the day, they're putting lives at risk.

By crossing six lanes of unlit motorway,

the driver of the Saxo and his passengers

have taken an enormous risk to get away from the cops.

They could have run off for a number of reasons.

It might be they just don't want to speak to us. They could have been drinking, on drugs, not insured.

They might have even nicked the motor, we don't know.

The cops are hoping that a search of the Saxo will reveal further clues.

They need to find the runaway driver and his passengers

before their desperate dash along the motorway puts them in even more danger.

Four miles north of Bromsgrove,

PCs Toal and Owen are also trying to catch a runaway driver.

That's where they've gone.

Just 15 minutes have passed since they found the white van that failed to stop.

They think the driver and his passenger may be hiding close by,

but they need a dog team to help search for them.

I don't know if Mike Alpha have spoken to you

to see if you've got a dog handler available on the border

at Bromsgrove, the bottom end of Leckey Road.

'Yeah, we just had a dog unit...'

A dog unit is available,

but the bad news is it's 30 miles away in Worcester.

It's been about 15 minutes now so I'd say probably cancel.

It's frustrating. We couldn't get a dog

and the helicopter wasn't available at that time,

so you've got to do the best you can with the resources you've got

and, on this occasion, there was only two of us.

Damn it.

Yeah. Gutted, mate. Their need to get away is far greater

than ours of catching them, sometimes.

I think that would have turned nasty, to be fair.

-I'm not much of a runner any more, either.

-That makes two of us, mate.

-Shall we go to the address?

-Yeah.

The registered keeper of the van lives nearby.

The cops plan to pay him a visit.

We'll knock the door.

One of the scenarios could be

that the registered keeper is in the address

and by us talking to him

we point out that his van's not on his drive...

and then we've got a stolen vehicle.

Another scenario could be...

..the person who owns the vehicle has just run off and is not in the address.

Someone's coming down, mate.

Myself and Paul have both got a glimpse of the driver

and the passenger and they were youngish lads.

They were in their late teens, early 20s.

Similar sort of age to myself.

Hello, sir, sorry to disturb you. Have you got a white van?

-Erm, yeah.

-Where's that at the moment?

Not far from here.

Well, it should be.

Right.

And when we've gone and knocked on the door of the registered keeper,

that person's not in their teens or mid-20s,

so my thought is then that actually maybe this person wasn't the driver

and it's somebody else.

Who drives that?

Well, various people drive it.

That van's just failed to stop for us and two occupants in it have run off.

I need to know exactly who's driving it, where it's been stopping,

and if I don't get that, I'm going to have it recovered and I won't release it.

-I'll make a quick phone call, then.

-No, no, no. I need to know who's got it now.

-But I don't know where it is, so how do I know?

-Well, you've just said...

it should be down the road.

INAUDIBLE

Does he work for you or something?

-He does bits and pieces for me, yeah.

-Right.

He ain't for this far though, has he?

How far is this up the road from where it's dumped?

-I think we're about three miles away from it now.

-He ain't got here that quick. No.

Having ruled out the owner as their suspect,

the cops' attention turns to his workmate who regularly uses the van.

I'll tell you now, right, I don't think that van's been stolen.

Your man's been drink-driving tonight, bud, I think.

-He doesn't drink-drive. He doesn't drink.

-OK.

The owner isn't convinced by the cops' theory.

But PC Toal is determined to prove it.

I tell you what I'm going to do, then.

If he doesn't come forward, I will recover the vehicle tonight

and preserve it for scenes of crime to SOCO it,

which could take up to a week.

I might have to do that, if he doesn't admit to it.

My only bargaining tool at this time is that vehicle.

I can see how keen he is to get that van back

and I've got to use that van to get to the bottom of my investigation.

I know he's been driving that tonight. So does my colleague.

And he's failed to stop.

-Well, he might not have. Someone else...

-With the keys?

And he's locked and secured it?

'His vehicle off the road for a couple of days, he's going to lose money.'

So I think he was quite keen to get to the bottom of it.

'Which is always good, really, if you've got somebody on side,'

you know, instead of an enemy,

'it's much easier.'

Now the cops are making yet another late-night house-call.

The important thing is I want you to get your vehicle back tonight.

But I want to know who's driving it,

The household seems asleep, but the cops are about to give them a wake up call.

There's no signs of forced entry.

How are you doing, mate?

What happened was, they came round to me...

I think they were quite shocked.

I think he thought his vehicle was still on the drive.

It was there earlier. It was... It was there about...

It must've been there.

Have you got the van keys?

'He's gone to check for his keys as well.'

And I think the penny's dropped then that the keys aren't there,

so the next port of call is, "Have you got anybody else

"that's living with you that could have access to those keys?"

Have you got any kids?

-Two boys, one's in bed.

-Where's the other one?

-Out with his friends.

-In the van?

-There we go then.

That's the person I want to speak to.

All right, I'm just popping in.

If it was the couple's son who took the van,

PC Toal will need their help to track him down.

They're very reluctant to help potentially, you know,

have their son in trouble.

Right now, if he admits the fact that he was driving it

and he's failed to stop for us, it's a very minor offence.

But I think you need to have a strong word with him

when he comes back in, mate.

'At the moment, we strongly believe that the son is drunk.'

That's why he's failed to stop.

And he's also TWOC'd the vehicle,

which is 'taken without the owner's consent'.

So he's going to be in trouble, he's going to be arrested.

Obviously not now, he's nowhere to be seen

and he's not answering his phone.

PC Toal has persuaded the worried parents to call

as soon as their son reappears.

But until they speak to him, the cops won't know for sure

whether they've got their man,

or why he was so desperate to get away.

Back on the M6, the men who crashed their car

and then ran off have still not been found.

But a second witness has come forward with more information for PC Shail.

-Where's your...?

-This is my car here.

-It's your car. Come and I'll have a word with you up here.

-Yeah.

And we can get you on your way shortly.

So you pulled over onto the hard shoulder, the car was...

At this point, it had crashed, come to rest in the middle of the road.

Then I went over to the lads to see if they were OK,

see if they needed any ambulance.

And the first thing they threw at me is, "Can you give us

"a lift to Manchester?"

And being really aggressive.

Little bit staggered by the fact that they'd

actually said, you know, "We'll leave our car here.

"Can we have a lift to Manchester?"

My answer was, "No, you're going to have to stay here.

"You could be in trouble if you don't."

They didn't give a monkey's about anybody else.

They're just after their own interests. Selfish, heartless.

There could have been somebody injured there, they wouldn't care.

The search for the men has been continuing and, nearby, another cop,

PC Richard Elliott, has spotted two men walking along the hard shoulder.

As we came south, we just,

a couple of miles from the scene of the incident,

we pick them up in the headlights,

both walking north on the southbound hard shoulder.

Yeah, we've been updated that the other patrol,

they come across these two guys.

They've spoken to them.

One person has admitted being the driver and owner of the car.

The lad who I first spoke to gave me his name

and it was the same as the registered keeper.

There had to be a reason, in our minds, for him leaving that scene.

So, obviously, one of the things was potentially that he was

a drink driver.

As the abandoned car is towed away, PC Shail gets more news.

It seems the driver has failed a breath test.

Well, that explains why they've done a runner.

But still, unbelievable that they're prepared to cross six lanes

of pitch black motorway to make good their escape.

It's insane enough just to walk up the hard shoulder, but...

It's just astounding,

just beyond belief that people could be so idiotic.

Further south, on the M6, 20 miles north of Coventry,

motorway cops Dave Gaunt and Kevin Whitehouse are also

searching for someone who doesn't want to be found.

Got some information that there's a 04 plate Bentley,

possibly heading southbound on the M6,

the driver, we believe, is a disqualified driver.

So we'll try and make some ground and see if we can pick it up

before it goes off our area.

Unless he's clogging it.

Can't be that far ahead of us.

The cops will need to push their BMW to the max

if they're to catch the powerful Bentley.

Fortunately, this kind of luxury car is pretty unusual.

It's one of those cars that you don't get too many of,

like Ford Fiestas. They're easy to spot.

It's rare for the motorway cops to pursue a disqualified driver

who's got such an exclusive set of wheels.

But you don't expect them to have disqualified drivers

and that sort of thing.

You expect them to be insured and everything because of the type of car it is.

Is that it? Oscar Tango 96 to 71.

We'll go in front and give him a follow me,

see if he'll come into Corley with us, over.

We've got another vehicle ahead at junction 3,

another vehicle behind us.

So we'll try and take him into Corley and see if he'll stop for us.

The cops have enough cars to ensure they can stop the Bentley

by force, if needs be.

But they're hoping a simple message to pull into Corley Services

will do the trick.

We've got a message board on the back of the car where we can put messages up, saying,

"Follow me," which is what we wanted him to do.

Oscar Tango 96 to 71, we've put the "follow me" on now, received.

But the Bentley driver seems to have other ideas.

He's dropped well back now.

He tried to hide behind some articulated lorry that was there,

as if to say, "I'll slope into the background and hope it's not me."

Yeah. Is he still behind the truck, is he?

The driver seems to be ignoring the flashing sign asking him

to follow the cops.

He's indicating to come past me now.

-Is he?

-Yeah.

You know what you're doing, but when they don't comply,

you're now thinking, "What are we going to do if there's...

"If he's indicating to come past us, is he going to floor it and go for it?"

Look behind.

ALERT SOUNDS

-AUTOMATED VOICE:

-PNC Report.

-Deal with this, yeah?

-Yeah.

Finally, he gets the message.

Mike Alpha 96, vehicle's off at Corley, over.

Hello, sir. Do you want to switch the engine off for me a minute?

The cops are expecting to find the disqualified driver,

a young white male, behind the wheel of the Bentley.

Is it your car?

-That's not a problem.

-I think he can talk for himself, mate, all right?

-No problem, mate, it's my car.

-Eh? Is it your car?

-Yeah, yeah.

OK. Just pop out of the car a minute and have a chat?

Just come and sit in the back of our car, mate.

And take your cigarette out.

The owner of the Bentley is inside the £80,000 car,

but not behind the wheel.

-He's in the passenger seat.

-As soon as we stopped the vehicle,

we knew that the person who was disqualified was not the person that was driving it.

So obviously we spoke to the driver anyway to make sure

he was street legal, basically.

-Hello, mate. All right?

-All right, yeah.

Right. Whose vehicle is it?

It's my mate's, in the passenger.

-Do you have driving documents with you at all?

-No, I haven't. I ain't got none on me.

-Have you got a driving licence?

-Yeah.

OK. What's your full name?

Asaiah Rainford.

Spell that for me.

-A- S.

-A- S.

-A-I.

-A-I...

The driver has given one name to the cops,

but his passenger says he's called something else.

Someone's not telling the truth.

The owner of the car has given the sergeant a card,

a bank card in the name of Leon Hunter.

And that's what he says his name is.

But he's given Asaiah Rainford to the officer.

But now the driver's having second thoughts about the details he's given.

You need my finger name, actually, my real name. Leon Hunter.

Why do I need your real name?

Cos I thought that's the best thing to do.

-Right, so what's the other name you use?

-Asaiah Rainford.

-No, what's the other one?

-Leon Hunter.

-Leon Hunter?

-Yeah, yeah.

So why did you give me Asaiah Rainsford?

That's my name that I use, I always tell everyone that's my name.

-Why?

-That's just my name that I use.

-So have you got a driving licence?

-I have got a driving licence.

-What name's the driving licence in?

-Leon Hunter.

-When we ask your name, you're supposed to give us it.

-I know, that's...

What's on your licence, all right? Not some Micky Duff details.

Obviously, when people lie to you about their identity,

you know that they've done it for a reason,

either because they're wanted or they're committing offences that,

obviously, if they give you a false name, that you might be

gullible enough to sort of just accept it

and move on and leave them to it.

And he has another surprise for the cops.

-You got a full licence?

-Not full.

-You haven't got a full licence?

-No.

-What sort of licence have you got, then?

-It's provisional.

RADIO: '...Come across a male...'

-Does he know you've got a provisional licence?

-Yeah.

What's he let you drive for?

Cos he's been driving for longer than me. So it's allowed, innit?

-No. Not on the motorway it's not.

-Oh.

He can't supervise you on the motorway.

And you haven't got any L plates either.

-Are you insured to drive that?

-Yeah, yeah.

What insurance are you driving that on?

-Kwik Fit I think it is.

-Kwik Fit. Is it sunny in here?

No, man, I'm putting them on because I don't want the camera in my face, in my eyes.

Are you driving on his insurance?

-Yeah, yeah.

-OK. Has he told you if you're insured?

No, he didn't say.

-Did you bother to ask?

-No.

-No?

-I should have really.

'That annoys me because you could be driving'

down the motorway with your family and you've got idiots like this.

'If you get in a car

'and you've got no licence and you've got no insurance,

'and you're quite happy to drive off down roads'

that are dangerous, you're putting other people's lives at risk.

And we can skirt around it as much as we like,

but I'm sorry but there is some element of stupidness there.

The price the owner may be paying for his stupidity

is the loss of his car -

at least until he can prove it's insured.

Just as truckers use the road network

to transport goods up and down the country,

criminals use the motorways to move drugs and cash.

But that means the officers in the Central Motorway Police Group

are in prime position to catch them.

PCs Jess Rojek and Alan Colman have just left their base in Perry Barr,

when they're called to help in stopping a car

that's suspected to be carrying drugs.

Have they got it?

-No, still behind him.

-We're just doing a follow at the minute?

-Yeah.

We have another patrol, it's coming southbound by junction 16,

up that neck of the woods. Quite a way up.

They're behind a vehicle

that's got some sort of drugs intelligence on it.

So we're making our way towards them

because we need as many cars as we can.

Just in case it's a fail to stop if it has got drugs on it.

I think their intention is to stop them in possibly Doxey.

A few miles ahead,

another patrol is preparing to stop the driver of the car.

-RADIO:

-'Now, now, now.'

They're just putting the stop on by the sounds of it.

-There you go, Doxey.

-'You all right?'

2-2 at Doxey.

PCs Colman and Rojek arrive at Doxey.

to find that the men in the car have been arrested.

A large amount of cash has been found on the driver,

increasing the cops' suspicions

about what they might have been up to.

There's a smell of cannabis coming from the car,

one of them's got a sizable quantity of cash,

so they're going to go for the purpose of drug search.

-We can do the car search. Shall we do that?

-Yeah.

-Is that all right, yeah?

Going to give the vehicle a comprehensive search

under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

It stinks in here.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

RINGING CONTINUES

That phone's going as well, all the time.

With the men otherwise engaged,

they're in no position to pick up their mobile phone...

MOBILE RINGS

-..or finish dinner.

-Half-eaten burger.

But apart from a few burger wrappers, the car seems clean.

While the sergeant checks the engine,

PC Colman turns his attention to the boot.

It's here. Sarge.

-Here it is.

-Got it?

-Yeah.

The find is impressive.

Looks like cannabis to me. Cannabis resin. Oh there's loads of it.

But on closer inspection, the packages seem to contain class A drugs.

I'm not going to dip my finger in it or anything.

Obviously it's a white... some sort of powder.

Didn't hide it very well, did they?

It's unusual to find so many packages so poorly concealed.

Ten different packages of class A powder. That's ten kilograms worth.

That's a lot of money.

The cops suspect the packets contain heroin or cocaine

with a street value of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

That's definitely a powder in there.

We're used to dealing, on a day-to-day basis,

with little bits of drugs here and there,

but to find drugs on that scale, you know,

we're starting to get people nearer the top,

the top end of it, which is really good.

So we've spoilt their night anyway.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

Meanwhile, someone is still keen to contact the men who are in the car.

MOBILE RINGS REPEATEDLY

Phoned now six times.

-I think he wants some of his stuff back.

-BLEEP

-not happy?

-No.

Because I would think one of the first avenues of investigation

-is to find out who he is.

-Yeah.

The phones will be seized, and the calls traced.

We can get evidence off this stuff - where they've been, what they've been doing, who they've called.

Obviously want to know where their drugs are. We've got 'em.

This operation will continue long into the night.

Back at Corley Services, PC Whitehouse has been checking up

on the driver of the £80,000 Bentley.

OK. The computer records show that you're a non-licence holder.

-Yeah.

-I don't know what licence you have or haven't got

and the database shows that there's no insurance on the vehicle.

What? How do...? It had to have been insured,

that's how he got it out the last time.

With no insurance, the cops have decided to seize the Bentley.

What's more surprising is that this is the second time the owner

has had his motor taken off him.

Before they take the car, PC Whitehouse notices another problem.

Seen these stick-on plates?

It's got a wrong registration number on it.

It's SBU on the tax disc.

The owner may have put these plates on to conceal

the real identity of the car from police cameras.

Something the cops are finding is an increasingly common problem.

Are you going to take these plates off now then?

Yeah, if you want.

'It does go through your thought process

'that potentially they put false number plates on

'to try and evade being caught for various things.'

It's your rubbish, stick it in the boot.

It could have been done in error.

But it didn't stop him getting caught anyway, did it? So.

There you go. Top job.

I like to treat people the way I'd expect to be treated myself.

'Because of the look of the driver, I made a bit of a joke, you know,

'about his dress sense.'

I think, to some extent, he went along with it.

If you did them up properly, that wouldn't happen, would it?

POLICE CHUCKLE

What you hating for?

-Hating?

-Yeah.

-What's that mean?

-You're hating on me.

Hating on you? It's just cos you've got style, mate, and I haven't.

The arrival of the tow truck brings one more surprise for the cops.

It turns out the tow truck driver knows this car very well indeed.

-We just released that.

-Yeah.

-I'm sure we've just released that.

-Yeah, you probably have.

-Last week.

The farce continues.

He'd seized it last week for no insurance.

The following week, you're still seizing it for no insurance.

The Bentley's owner will have to pay up another £150

if he wants to get his luxury car back again.

It's a good tool to have because it does hurt people.

Especially when they're driving all over the country

'in the middle of the night and you seize the car

'in the middle of the country. They want to go home'

and they go, "Well, how am I going to get there?" You go, "Not my problem."

'I'm not having the guilt trip. It's your fault you're not insured but you drove.'

You got caught. End of story.

This time the owner's called a taxi to take him

and his uninsured driver the 25 miles back home.

Nine miles south of Birmingham,

there's been a development in the search for the youngster

who PCs Toal and Owen chased in the Transit van. He's called the cops to fess up.

So we're going to go to the address now -

and we're looking to arrest him for failing to stop...

..and theft of the motor vehicle -

where he's going to be interviewed and we'll see what he's got to say.

I would suggest that his mum has advised him

that if he doesn't he might be finding new digs next week.

The powers of a mum and dad

sometimes have got a better hold than the police have, really.

You know, I'm still scared of my father now,

so I fear him more than I do the police, let's put it that way.

Hello, mate, thanks for calling us back.

You all right, mate? Thanks for turning back up.

Is there anything you want to say to me before I speak to you?

-Nothing at all.

-Except for being a dick.

Well I admire your honesty, OK?

Three hours after they first spotted him,

PCs Toal and Owen have finally got their man...

Make sure your seatbelt's on for us.

..who's proving to be a model prisoner.

Did you think I was going to be like all hostile?

Mate, I didn't know what to expect with you, to be fair, Bret.

I mean you seem like a decent lad.

I am. It's just the odd occasion.

He's even spilling the beans

about how he and his friend hid from the cops.

Was it you two that was stand... that was parked right in front of the back of the van?

-Yeah.

-Wow, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Thought it was.

-You watching us, then?

-Yeah, we were about 100 yards from you.

-Was you? Whereabouts?

By a bush. We were waiting for you to go so we could take the van back,

-but it didn't work out.

-It wasn't...

-It didn't pan out as part of...

His chat inside the car has identified another issue PC Toal is keen to explore.

'Even though it was three hours after the incident,'

I can smell something on his breath, you know, the smell of liquor.

So naturally I want to get him breathalysed.

All you have to do mate, lean forward for me,

blow into that tube until I say stop.

Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, lovely. That's great.

It'll come up with four levels, zero, pass, warn or fail.

All right?

The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

BEEPING OK, it's come up as a pass of 25.

-Is that all right?

-It's OK.

-OK.

-You said you had a drink, how much did you have to drink?

-About three pints.

The odds are that he was probably over before.

'That's probably one of the reasons why he's failed to stop in the first place.'

At least I can admit that I've done wrong.

It takes a bigger person to admit when they're wrong, Bret.

Than someone who's just going to, you know, bluff their way through it.

OK, mate, do you want to come out?

'If somebody runs off, they tend to either keep running or lie low.

'Hoping that we don't get a dog or a helicopter. Hoping that we go away.'

But sometimes we don't.

It's unusual that he'd own up to it and admit to the fact that we were there, we were watching you

and I was tempted to come down and speak to you.

For someone to actually own up to that and admit to that, that's quite rare.

Early morning.

As the daytime traffic starts to build to the rush hour peak,

the motorway cops are up and about.

PCs Richard Elliott and Stuart Bullard are at Keele Services,

lying in wait for a gang in a van

that's being followed down the motorway by an unmarked police car.

We're sat at the service area, just waiting for a Transit Connect van travelling southbound

which we've had information is carrying a quantity of class A drugs

from the Stockport area down to Bristol.

The gangs time their trip down the motorway to perfection.

They believe they can slip through the Midlands unnoticed

just at the time the cops change shifts.

It's no secret as to what time our shifts change,

so if they run at those sort of times,

they may feel that it's easier for them to get through certain areas.

But their plan's backfired.

Because PCs Bullard and Elliott are staying on duty for this operation.

And they're being joined by more officers from the day shift.

PCs Steve Millward and Mark Calladine are racing to meet up with them.

We're travelling north and want to get there

'as quickly as we can so we've got enough officers there to deal with the situation.'

They're needed in force to ensure they can stop the van without any unforeseen problems.

We don't want just one car to pull up behind it

just in case it decides to go for it.

So the motorway patrols are further south.

You know, we can put a proper stop on the vehicle,

get it stopped nice and safe,

so we can get hold of whoever's inside

and have a good look round the car.

Meanwhile, at Keele Services, PCs Elliott and Bullard

are preparing to meet the van they've been told is now just seconds away from them.

Here we go.

-That's it.

-As the van flies past, they race to catch it.

Now they're on its tail, Elliott and Bullard need backup from the day-shift cops -

PCs Calladine and Millward - who are just half a mile behind them.

-Where is he?

-I can't see him, mate.

It's just ahead of us, so, um...

The plan is for the unmarked cars ahead to move into position

to box in the van while Calladine and Millward use their vehicle as a safety car to hold back the traffic.

Oscar Tango one, one, we are approaching behind.

If you need us as a safety, we can do that.

Yeah, we're stuffed at the minute, mate. Vehicles out in three.

Can't get past him with the plain car.

They don't want to move.

Plain car might have to do a nearside on it, if it comes to it.

There's an unmarked police car behind the van

and PC Elliott is eager for it to take decisive action.

I'm looking ahead and thinking, "Right, there's a gap coming up.

"If you can't get down one side of him, go the other side."

I know it's undertaking somebody, but, you know, we're the police, we've got to do it.

Do him down the nearside, Sheepy. Do him down the nearside, Sheepy.

Do him down the nearside! Come on!

Everybody does things differently.

I get frustrated if things don't go the way I want them to.

It's a tense situation for the cops.

With every second they delay their stop,

the men in the hire van have more chance of spotting them and making off.

All three lanes are taken up with 70mph traffic.

It's going to get crowded coming up the bank now.

Unfortunately at that time of the day,

traffic is starting to really pick up.

You don't want to have to get other people involved in something

if it starts to go wrong.

With traffic conditions worsening, and the van hogging lane three,

the cops will need to pick their moment carefully.

For now it's a waiting game.

Drug couriers are not the only drivers who try to avoid police attention.

Fifty miles away on the M5, PC Adam Toal has teamed up with PC John Martin.

They're responding to a report on a car with a personalised plate.

We've just had some information passed to us

regarding a vehicle that's travelling M5 northbound.

The vehicle's displaying a registration plate that relates to another vehicle.

So we're just going to stop the vehicle,

ascertain the true identity of it and see who's driving it.

If the driver's using the wrong plates or has deliberately failed to register them...

-Call it?

-Let's have a go.

..he could be trying to avoid police detection for other offences.

'There's a number of reasons.'

One is that they don't want to be identified.

Secondly they don't want the vehicle to be identified.

And thirdly, they're up to no good.

Hello sir. You all right? Is it your vehicle?

-When did you buy the plates?

-A little while ago.

-A little while ago.

Have you got any documentation or anything like that?

Will you do us a favour, as well?

Just take your tax out, because that's out of date.

-I've ordered the new tax.

-Yeah, but it should be displayed on it, mate.

-Oh, OK.

-OK?

-Yeah.

The driver's not making a good first impression on PC Toal.

-Just grab yourself a seat in the rear for me, please.

-Thank you.

-'Have we got a stolen car,'

or is this person trying to evade, you know,

being identified by the police for speeding tickets, et cetera?

So we need to start doing a few inquiries at this point.

Have you got your driver's licence with you, have you?

-Not on me, no.

-Proof of insurance?

Have you got any current MOT for it?

Is it not there?

Well you've got February 2010.

-You had the car long?

-Not really.

How long? How long?

About eight months?

-Right. And when did you change the plates over?

-About a month after I got it.

-So for seven months?

-Yeah.

-Have you actually registered it with the DVLA?

-No.

-No?

-No.

-Right.

Not registering the plates after seven months is...

it's almost like not paying your insurance for seven months.

It's just a simple paper exercise to send it off to the DVLA.

-Do you not think that would have been wise to do?

-Probably.

Basically you're running on false plates at the moment.

-Right.

-Which... It's not good.

-No.

Being a police officer, we tend to think the worst and it's always...

Well, it's usually because they're trying to do something naughty.

-We could look at it a few ways today. Either you're failing to display the correct plates...

-Yeah.

-..or are you attempting to evade...

-Can I have the chassis number?

-..cameras?

-No, definitely not.

-..Mercedes which it's provided for.

-That's the theory behind it. Cos people do that, you see?

-Right.

That's obviously how we'll decide what we're going to do today...

-Yes Tango 360.

-Regarding that.

-I take it you knew that that was what you should do.

-I didn't get round to it, I think.

-Didn't get round to it?

-No.

'They must think police officers in general'

are stupid because the reasons that they give, or the excuses that they give,

they're just...they're rubbish. It's laughable.

-Can I go home and put the other plates back on?

-Have you got the other plates with you?

Yes, they're in... I can nip back and get them.

-They're not in the boot or anything?

-They might be.

-Right.

Well that's strange if they are in the boot,

that you are keeping your old plates with the car.

At that point we thought, "Well, that sounds like what the people do

"that make off without paying on leaving petrol stations."

'That's what they do.

'They carry around an array of plates,

'two maybe three different ones, but he didn't quite match,'

you know, or fit the bill, so to speak, of what that kind of person would look like.

-To me, that's a bit...

-Well, I dumped them in there.

-..Mile away from the radio, but...

The driver's excuses are weak,

but hopefully his personalised plates are worth the trouble they're causing him.

How much did you pay for the plate?

-Oh, it was a couple of hundred.

-Yeah, that's all received. OK, can I just have the chassis?

A hundred quid. So what's the reference then to you, then?

It's not, it's just a bit flash, innit?

-It's got no reference at all to you?

-No.

Most private number plates have a meaning. Either an age,

'something, their kids' initials. Anything like that.'

I just couldn't see how it worked.

-Were you born in '66, then?

-No. World Cup.

-Yeah.

Which I just thought, "That's even... That's not suspicious.

"Now it's starting to get down the lines of that's just quite strange."

Cos the other thing is who's your insurance down to?

Is that down to that registration number?

No, it's down to the other one.

With the wrong plates, no MOT and questions hanging over his insurance,

it seems there may be several reasons why this driver would rather have avoided the cops' attention.

Back on the M6, just south of Keele, the cops have finally found

a clear patch of road to force the men in the hire van to stop.

This is a good point here.

There's an opening up in the nearside lane now.

As the van changes lane, the cops seize their chance.

Two on turn 94, after that blue container, mate.

We're going to go for the stop now.

This is going to be very tight on this vehicle here.

While the plain car pulls ahead of the van,

PCs Elliott and Bullard get ready to force the men to pull over.

He's going for it.

Oscar Tango 21, vehicle failing to stop. Fail to stop, fail to stop.

'He's in a van, he must have been aware that he was never going to

'out-accelerate the patrol cars,'

but it doesn't necessarily mean he won't give it a go.

Oscar Tango 21, you receive? Vehicle failed to stop, over.

While the van bobs and weaves to avoid the cops,

200 yards behind, PCs Millward and Calladine are witnessing the chase as it unfolds.

'We could see it in the distance, we could see the police car lights'

and then you knew it wasn't going to stop. When you hear it on the radio,

you know you've got to get up with them as quick as you can.

Vehicle lane two, 90 miles per hour.

We have one police vehicle ahead of it, ourselves to the rear.

As the unmarked car pulls ahead of the van,

PCs Millward and Calladine join the pursuit,

leaving another patrol to hold back the traffic.

SIRENS WAIL

These people want to get away.

They've got something in the car. They don't want to be stopped.

We want to stop them, to contain them

and to contain the evidence before they can get rid of it.

With the cops closing in, the men in the van are running out of options.

-Oh, it's out. It's out.

-Yeah.

238 oblique 3, bag on the hard shoulder/verge.

238 over 3.

Something has been thrown out of the window. It may be drugs. The cops will check it out later.

But, for now, their focus is on stopping the van.

-Get alongside him, mate.

-Get alongside now.

Get in front of him, Sheepy. Two back on.

There are two men in the van. PC Millward goes for the passenger.

Get out. Get out. On the floor. On the floor.

'He didn't want to come out of the van.'

I wanted him out of the van.

Arms behind you.

On the floor, on the floor.

You're thinking, running or fighting at that point.

You don't know what they're going to do.

-Get out.

-On the floor. On the floor now.

'He doesn't want to get caught, is probably very upset'

and a little bloke like me coming up, he probably didn't like that.

Ah, get off. I can't move. Move, get off.

HORNS BEEP, SIREN WAILS

The two men are cuffed and led away. But the passenger still has some fight left in him.

-Don't worry about it.

-Can I just...

-Shush.

-I won't shush.

-Shush.

-I won't shush.

-Shush.

It was first thing in the morning,

he thought he was off to do a drugs deal.

'The way that he was stopped by the police,'

it was the end of his day. He knew he'd be in custody.

Yeah. He's detained at the moment. We'll arrest him in a moment and do the honours in the car.

It was a bit busy at the side of the road. The intention is to get him detained, handcuffed,

preserve evidence and we'll have a speak with him now, now he's calmed down in the car a little bit.

-I've done

-BLEEP

-wrong, you

-BLEEP.

-Who the

-BLEEP

-are you?

-BLEEP

-idiots. Absolute

-BLEEP

-knobs.

He took a dislike to me. I don't know why.

-Why me?

-You're a

-BLEEP

-knob.

-What are you pushing on my shoulder for? Do you think you're hard?

-I'm putting your seatbelt on.

But it happens. You get mouthed off at. You get sworn at.

People try and bring you down. But we're better than them.

-Hang on a minute, who's in charge?

-Listen, you're under... He's putting your seatbelt on for your safety.

-No, just listen to me.

-What?

-He's pushing his arms into his chest.

-Right. Calm yourself down.

-Calm

-BLEEP

-down?!

-You're under arrest

for possession of a controlled substance with intent to supply.

-Dickhead with the bald head, who the

-BLEEP

-does he think he is?

-Calm down.

-If he was on my street one-on-one, he wouldn't do a

-BLEEP

-thing

-cos I'd snap his jaw. I'm fine with you.

-Calm down.

-You've been fine with me.

I don't know what his problem is. He thinks we've got the problem, you see. That's the trouble.

-He's an absolute, bald-headed,

-BLEEP

-knobhead. Eh, yeah?

-You're laughing now because you agree with me, yeah...

-No I don't, mate, he's a nice bloke.

If this person's took a dislike to, for example, me,

the other one, your partner, becomes the good cop.

There's no point in getting het up. We'll leave as soon as we can

-as it's not a good place.

-I understand. I'm happy with that.

On that day, it was Steve they took a dislike to and he was OK with me.

Well can I ask you what's going on?

What's going on?

You're being arrested, as I've said, for suspicion of a controlled substance with intent to supply.

There's been an item dumped from a bag further up the carriageway.

So you're going to be questioned about that at the station. All right?

To build their case, the motorway cops will need to find the package

that the passenger threw from the van window.

Back on the M5, and the charges are stacking up

against the driver of the Mercedes with the personalised plates.

PC Toal has been checking his details.

Who's your insurance company with, Steve?

-Um, it's with... Oh what are they called? Swift.

-Swift?

-Yeah.

-It's obviously showing no insurance as well.

-No insurance?

Yeah. You've obviously... Your tax is out of date, it's a £60 fine

for failing to display a valid tax disc.

Whether you bought it or not, it doesn't matter,

-there's no excuse. My colleague's obviously explained the number plates to you.

-Yeah.

That's another £60 fine on top.

I'm just going to go and check your vehicle over for the identity

and we'll make inquiries with Swift insurance to see about your policy.

The worst thing is if you're not insured, we'd have to take the car away from you,

but that will also will be a £200 fine and six points on your licence straight away.

-Don't need that, I've got nine as it is.

-Right. What are they for?

-Speeding.

That to me, now, also it's strange...

Well they're not all speeding.

-They're not all? How many are for speeding?

-I can promise you

it wasn't because of that. It might have been a bit of vanity in trying to get the...

-Right.

-It's nothing to do with trying to avoid anything. I can promise you that.

PC Martin doesn't think much of the man's vanity plate.

There was potential that he was trying to impress people with it,

but, thinking about it, if I was trying to impress someone,

I don't think that would be the way I'd go about it.

That registration plate is down as having speed camera offences.

-You say you've got nine points already.

-Yeah.

-He's got six points.

-Six points. You've got six so you're looking at losing your licence.

-Yeah?

-Because you're going to have totted up.

There's potentially multiple speed camera offences there.

At that point he was...he had become extremely worried because he was on his way to work in Birmingham,

he's then got stopped, he's got false plates on,

he's now found out that he's got speeding fines coming in the post

when they get registered to him and now he's got no insurance.

I think he was a worried man at that point.

While PC Martin makes further checks with the insurance company,

PC Toal tries to allay the man's fears.

-Did you do it on the computer?

-Yeah.

-It could even be a typing error on your behalf.

-Right.

You might have put in like a wrong surname or a wrong, you know,

address or even a wrong registration or make or model of the vehicle

and it will void your policy.

The driver may stand to lose his licence,

but if he has no insurance, he'll be waving goodbye to his car right now.

OK then, Heather, thanks very much for your help.

All right then, cheers then. Bye, bye.

Right, Swift have saved your bacon.

You've done a typo on the internet.

-You've put it down as Victor Alpha Yankee rather than Uniform Alpha Yankee.

-Oh, right.

So they've sent you an e-mail

and then that's sorted, but they are going to insure you for the time, although it's down to your error.

It will be fixed penalties for these,

could send you to court cos basically, as I explained,

we have people displaying fake plates, but you don't really seem like the kind of person...

-I can promise you it's not, it's just a bit of vanity and I know I should have done it, so.

-Right.

The driver's lucky. Toal and Martin have decided to believe his story

about the plates. And his insurance company have let him off the hook,

but he could still lose his licence for those speeding offences.

You'll probably get a letter in the post as well from Gloucestershire Police, mate,

regarding the speed enforcement, as my colleague said.

I hope it's only three.

I think he was happy that his car wasn't taken, he didn't have a huge fine coming

'but, obviously, bearing the amount of points that I think

'he already had on his licence, I think with the speeding fines'

that were coming to him, I don't think we needed to dump

'any more chaos on his day.'

Back on the M6, PC Richard Elliott is reviewing the police in-car video

of the hire van suspected to be carrying drugs.

'It seemed like it was the perfect scenario.

'We had all three cars around it, it was slowing down

'and then suddenly he just kind of just anchored on.'

Just going for it.

Just trying to get the cars in place is a nightmare.

Even when we did get it on, it was a bit tight on one of the other vehicles,

'so it was down to us to do it.

'The only thing I can do at that point is just get in hard to it.'

He's shown his intention to be quite forceful in his attempts to escape from us.

We don't know what else he's going to do.

There's...you know, there's quite a lot at stake for somebody if they're transporting drugs.

But there's a point to this video review of the chase.

PC Elliott is looking for the moment when the passenger threw a package from the window.

I think it's coming up. There it goes.

Yeah, it doesn't come much better than that, does it?

The video evidence is key to the cops' case.

And it confirms the motorway marker post identified during the pursuit.

'Those 100 metre sections are vital for us'

cos it makes a very bland piece of road

'individual and specific to a point.

'And, sad as it is,'

you get to know where a marker post...

Somebody gives you a marker post number, you can identify that bit of motorway.

A few miles back down the M6,

PC Billy Cotton is searching for the package.

He knows it must be close by.

'You do get to know your patch'

and you know the geographical little bits and pieces -

the hills, the woods,

'the marker posts. So we could pinpoint exactly'

where the drugs had been thrown out

'of the van.'

Just as help arrives,

PC Cotton finds a plastic bag that looks out of place.

'There was no disguising this little bundle of drugs

'which had been wrapped up very meticulously.

'And it stood out from all of the McDonald's wrappers.'

They've just literally chucked them out the window.

I don't know whether they were stupid or what?

But did they expect us to stop them

and book them for speeding or perhaps give them a ticket for littering?!

You going to evidence that for us then, mate?

Yeah I'll... Queen's Property, do a statement.

The actual drugs are contained within

black sticky tape inside the carrier bag.

So it didn't split open. They weren't quite good enough for us.

In Stoke-on-Trent,

the man arrested by PC Calladine is being taken into custody.

And he's still having a go at PC Millward.

-As soon as we get in there.

-I've been arrested many a time. I've never met such an idiot like you.

-I promise you, you're a idiot.

-'Once these chaps are caught,'

it's a great feeling. It's a great buzz.

'You know at least you've got a couple of people in custody. You've got the drugs.'

Cracking job, really. That's what we've come into the job for -

get these people off the road, get them off the streets.

The man who threw the package from the van was convicted of

conspiracy to supply class A drugs

and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The Bentley owner with no insurance was fined £650

and given seven points on his licence.

No charges were brought against the driver.

The driver who ditched his car on the M6 passed a second breath test.

He admitted leaving the scene of an accident,

and was fined £250 and disqualified for six months.

The man who failed to register his personal plates was fined £60.

The white van man who handed himself in was fined £85,

disqualified for six months and given an electronic tag.

And the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence against the men

who were caught with a car boot containing ten kilos of class A drugs.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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