Excuses, Excuses Motorway Cops

He's going to kill someone, this idiot.

Motorway cops deal with drivers who take life-threatening risks

-every day.

-Careful.

For every risk, there's an excuse.

Why have you given us false details?

I'm on the way to the christening and I just wanted to get there.

-From the absurd...

-You've been running, haven't you?

No, I haven't been running. I suffer with asthma, mate.

..to the desperate.

And the cops have heard them all.

I'm not trying to talk to you like idiots or nothing like that.

Well, unfortunately, for the past hour,

you have tried to treat us like idiots.

The story is just invented.

-He knew why we'd stopped him.

-Yes, of course he did.

It ain't looking good for you.

In the back of your mind, you're thinking,

"These are ridiculous excuses.

"I know what you've done, you know what you've done.

"Why are you even bothering?"

It's 6:30pm and rush hour on all the major routes

in and out of Bradford.

Motorway cops PC Andy Barron

and PC Lindsey Pickles are coming to the end of their shift.

-I'm starving now.

-Don't tell me, you are going to get a Chinese.

No, I'm not going to get a Chinese.

But their takeaway is going to have to wait.

I had an earpiece in on a local Bradford channel

and I could hear one of my colleagues mentioning a white Sprinter van

that were making off from him.

At the same time I could hear this, a white Sprinter van came past me

and I could see blue lights on a police van.

-'Yankee Kilo 06...'

-This van had been involved or had been seen

leaving the scene of a burglary

so that's the only information that we had at that time.

-Andy and Lindsey are trained in pursuit driving.

-59 behind you.

As they catch up with the chase, they signal to pass.

Tango 51.

51. We've got a vehicle making off.

51. We're currently on St Mary's Road. Towards Oak Lane.

You get a rush of adrenaline and I recall everything, you know, gripping

the steering wheel and thinking, right, we're in for a roll here.

Left, left, left on to Drummond Road.

You never know what's going to happen.

You never know what's round the corner.

You never know how members of the public are going to react

so it's a dangerous situation.

After chasing the van for two miles towards Bradford city centre,

Andy spots a chance to try and identify the driver

and gets alongside the speeding van.

Yes, we have got an Asian male driver. Careful.

There are many, many things that we have to consider in a split second.

If that target vehicle crashes into a family

and causes serious injuries, it's always in the back of our head,

you know, what if that were my family or my colleague's family?

Left, left, left on to White's View.

Andy and Lindsey call for backup.

'Where are you going towards?'

We're currently on Walker Drive,

going back towards the general direction of Thornton Road.

Lindsey's directions are crucial for the other units

making their way to the chase.

Speed is now 50mph. Stand by.

The stakes are rising as the van heads back

towards busy rush-hour streets.

It was tea time. People coming and going from work....

Children... It's a highly residential area.

The roads were busy by the traffic lights, etc.

So it's always something that we have to put first and foremost.

It's a Transit... It's a Mercedes Sprinter. Right, right, right.

Whetley Lane again.

But before they can bring the van to a halt,

-the game plan suddenly changes.

-Don't do that, don't do that!

-No, don't do that, don't do that! Crazy...

-Oh, shit, shit, shit.

We're going to be aborting at this rate. What a silly thing to do.

We will abort any pursuit if the risks

they're taking far outweigh the reasons that we need to stop them.

It's just not worth ending up with a fatality.

Ahead, another police car arrives and blocks the road,

but the van driver is so desperate to get away,

he is prepared to do anything.

Oh, shit. He's on the footpath.

We were concerned at that point, very concerned.

Very fortunately, the van didn't hit anybody.

It's always one of those things that's frustrating if we do lose them

after a pursuit but if it has to be aborted, it has to be aborted.

We're now back on to Whetley Lane.

We've got one front seat passenger that's on the phone and a driver.

It's going to be a decamp, is this, in a minute, I reckon.

I don't think they are going to keep going for long.

But then the van driver makes his first big mistake.

We've got a left, left, left to Glenholme Road, and then left again...

Ooh. He's collided with a small wall

-but he's continuing.

-He's going to decamp. It's lost its back wheel.

It's lost its rear nearside wheel.

That's the riskiest point of losing somebody.

As soon as they leave the vehicle and start running,

-that's when you may lose them.

-He's losing control.

He's going round corners

because he hasn't got the stability at the back end.

As the damaged van speeds down a residential street,

an unmarked car joins the chase.

-I'm going to...

-Ashwell Road now.

-Ashwell Road.

-The van is going round in circles.

Andy gambles on taking a back road to try and cut it off.

Careful.

They're head-to-head with the van, but the driver spots a way out.

Careful, Andy.

There was a gap in the parked cars that presented itself to this driver.

Let him get through.

-Oh, nearly.

-He's going to kill somebody, is this idiot.

Getting the two-and-a-half-tonne police car turned

in the tight city back streets

leaves Andy and Lindsey playing catch-up.

Location update.

We're now at Walker Drive.

Decamped. He's decamped.

Finally, a city centre patrol car has forced the driver to stop.

On your feet, mate. On your feet. Nice and steady.

Nice and steady, lad. We'll put you in this van.

-Two men are pulled from the van.

-Get up. Get up now.

Right, you are under arrest.

For failing to stop for police, dangerous driving.

You do not have to say anything.

It may harm your defence if you don't mention when questioned

something which you later rely on in court.

-Have you got anything on you at all you shouldn't have?

-No.

-Any weapons?

-Anything sharp that could harm us?

-Nothing like that.

PC Mark Claxton finally brought the van to a halt.

He seemed very desperate to get away, for some reason.

If you look here, rubber gloves on the floor and that's usually

an indication that a vehicle's stolen.

Damage to that's not going to... but we'll see

-if we can get into the rear of the van.

-Oh, wow. There you go.

-Yee-ha!

-Fantastic.

-It is a mobile cannabis factory.

That'll be the reason that they have gone to try and get away

and why he's got gloves on in the front.

Lindsey and Andy, who have decided to stop this vehicle, and it's been

brought to their attention,

have just done an absolutely excellent job.

During the chase, Andy suspected the van might be carrying cannabis.

The stench coming from the back of the van,

even in our car following it, was quite overwhelming.

To get that haul is significant, really.

It's an excellent result to get that amount of cannabis off the street.

It has taken two major drug dealers off the road.

So we could do with identifying them as quickly as possible

and finding out where they have been grown and see

if there's any more and confiscate the equipment.

Now, Andy and Lindsey must try and piece together whether

the cannabis was being moved from a safe house or if it was stolen.

When you find something like that in the back of a van, it's not

the end of the enquiry, it's just the beginning.

15 miles away, PCs Paul Crabtree

and Chris Pursey are eastbound on the M62.

The entry slip road is nice and clear. That's what I like to see.

You can go home and sleep safe and sound at night, then, can't you?

This is the main artery across England, from Liverpool to Hull.

It's one of the busiest motorways in the country.

During the daytime, it's more dealing with accidents and incidents

as they come in but at night time, the opportunity's there for speed.

As the rush-hour traffic clears,

the cops want to ensure no-one is tempted to put their foot down.

If they are driving when they see us and slow down,

-then they're observant.

-Don't mind that.

-They're switched on.

They know what is happening around them.

And not everyone has seen the motorway cops

sitting on the slipway.

Silver Focus.

He's got a bit of pace about him.

My colleague has just seen a car come past

while we were parked up on the entry slip road, at speed in lane three

so we have just set off to chase after it.

The car is travelling so fast, it's nearly out of sight when Paul

-and Chris join the motorway.

-Whereabouts is it now, Paul?

It's just over this brow. Still lane three. There it is.

We're still doing 110 miles an hour. He hasn't seen us.

He's still going. We've got a start.

We'll just follow him and see how he goes now.

You could think of it as cat and mouse. It is dark.

He wouldn't be able to see our markings.

Obviously not looking in the mirrors and not being observant.

Otherwise, he'd realise it could be the police coming up behind him.

Unaware that the cops are on his tail, the driver

keeps his foot down as Paul and Chris begin to gather evidence.

Start the equipment and it measures the time.

The second button measures distance.

And then we do the same to finish the check,

so it measures time and distance of the vehicle in front.

98.41 average. The time is just over a minute.

One minute and four seconds.

So we'll definitely be stopping this driver and dealing with him.

At nearly 100 miles an hour, the driver's stopping distance

is over 200m, the length of two football pitches.

If anything mechanical goes wrong,

at those sort of speeds, if he gets a puncture or a blow out,

the driver is going to lose control.

The cops now have the evidence they need to pull the driver over.

There is a nice gap for him to go in,

now we've got the blues on, which he's taking.

He's in his vehicle, thinking, I want to go at this speed

and to hell with everybody else that's around me.

Hello, sir. Can you just join us a second in our car?

We need to have a chat.

-In my eyes, he needs sorting out.

-Is it your car?

-Yes.

-What's your name?

-Raees Khan.

-How long have you had the car?

-I have just took it off a friend.

-You bought it off him?

-No, I just took it off him. Two days ago.

-You have taken it off him?

-Yes.

-Who is your insurance policy with?

-Mine's with the...

We're going to stop you. This is all getting a little bit vague.

Let's go right back to the beginning. Is it your car?

No, the vehicle's the company's car.

Right, so when I asked you to start with, is it your car, you said yes.

It's not a good start when someone starts telling you one thing

and then changing the story halfway through.

I was thinking of buying it, to be honest with you.

-I'm just driving around.

-But whose car is it?

-RAC... AC motor, to be honest.

-AC Motors' car?

There's no point lying to us

because we will find out and sometimes

people just need a little chance to start again.

-Do you know why we stopped you?

-No.

You don't? OK. We've been behind you since junction 22, OK?

Now this might start to ring a bell as to why we have stopped you.

-Do you want to have a wild guess now?

-No.

Now I tell you how long we've been behind you.

-It is a good seven or eight miles.

-Fair enough.

We have seen you going past the junction going quite quick.

What we have done is we have done a following check on your speed and

you're out in front of us at 100, 101, 102.

That is you there. 106, 109...

Doing those sort of speeds, you know all about it because it's

making lots of rattling noises and it sounds very loud.

And it's probably feeling a bit twitchy at that sort of speed.

In fairness, Raees, you know you're doing that,

because you're going to have to put some pasty

into a Focus to do 110 up that slope. All right?

What happens, fortunately for you,

is a car comes out in front of you and you have to back your speed off.

And if you notice there, there are some lights coming out

in front of you and speed starts to drop back. All right?

The average check at the end there,

98.41 is your average speed over that distance we have covered.

Because that vehicle moved out in front of him then yes,

the average did come down and it brought him

into the realms of points rather than a ban.

Little bit too quick there, isn't it? What's the rush?

The driver might have escaped an automatic ban

but his ordeal isn't over yet.

15 miles away back in Bradford,

the cannabis haul is stirring up a lot of interest.

Andy wants it off the streets as soon as possible.

We've got a big crowd in the middle of Girlington.

So we need the cannabis in the van moving as soon as possible.

'You say it's full of cannabis. How full of cannabis is it?'

It's a Mercedes Sprinter long wheelbase and the back of it is

full of cannabis so that's the sort of volume were talking about.

It's basically a cannabis factory on wheels

and moving to somewhere else.

It needs to go to Stoneywood and be photographed when it arrives.

The cops now have information that earlier on,

the van was seen leaving a house only a few miles away.

It was seen being loaded up.

A member of the public has rung it in to us saying there was

something suspicious about it.

It looks like they're taking a grow either to another house, moving it,

or they are going to clean it up and sell it.

Now cops have a van loaded with cannabis and an address to raid.

They race round to see what else they might find.

There still could be more cannabis back at the house.

And possibly other people at the house.

But they may be too late.

The house is deserted.

Officers find what's left of a four-storey cannabis farm.

Sergeant Adam Crisp is supervising the house search.

When we've got to the address, we've realised that somebody's

forced entry to the ground floor and then they've stolen cannabis.

You can see the trail of cannabis leading to the exit.

The cops are sure that the plants in the van originally

came from the house.

They could have been the people that set up this cannabis factory or

they could have been tipped off that the police are coming

or it could be a rival drug dealer's cannabis factory that they are trying to rip off.

A mile away, back at the van,

Lindsey gets an update from Sergeant Adam Crisp.

What we're saying is, we need to...

Because obviously they've got the cannabis plants at the house

and they've got these, they want to take a sample

so that they can say that they are the same one.

The cannabis seizure will lead to a major investigation.

But for now, Andy and Lindsey's work is done.

It's got a rear nearside flat, I think, possibly under the limit.

-It's certainly underinflated.

-Come on. We're off.

-Food.

Andy and Lindsey can finally take a break.

That was a nice little job, wasn't it?

On the M62, PCs Paul Crabtree

and Chris Pursey are still listening to a driver's excuses.

They want to know why he was speeding at nearly 100mph.

Right, what's the rush?

For what reason?

Right. You're going to have an even more bad stomach when you hit

central reservation and splash your intestines all down the motorway.

If you hit something at 100mph, that's what's going to happen to you.

There won't be a great deal left. We'd have to come and put your stomach in a bag

and that'll hurt an awful lot more than it will do just

toddling home and getting yourself a Rennie.

-Who else is in the car with you?

-Just a friend of mine.

-A friend?

-Yes, yes.

'To put other people at risk'

for your own benefit has got to be

selfish really, hasn't it?

'Obviously not a thought for anybody else.'

Now, call me cynical, but your stomach wasn't hurting

-when you got in.

-It was.

You could then see that he was starting to screw his face up

and make like he was in agony with this stomach problem that

he's got, which looked like it was a bit of a last-ditch attempt, really,

-to try and get off the offence.

-He wasn't doing that when he got in, so no, I didn't believe him.

What we're going to do, my colleague is going to take some details

and we'll give you a written notice

which is notice of intended prosecution.

A decision will be made as to

whether you are summonsed to court for the offence of speeding.

That probably will come through the post within the next

sort of four to six weeks, OK?

Where are you going to?

-And how long are you going for?

-End of t'year.

Until the end of the year? So you're going for a couple of months?

-And then are you coming back to the UK, or not?

-Yeah.

-You are?

-Are you a permanent resident in the UK?

-Yeah.

That's another excuse he's using to try and get away with it.

"I'm not in the country, so you can't prosecute me."

He can even be prosecuted in his absence.

Points can be put on his licence.

So when he does return to the country,

those points and a fine will be waiting for him.

That's a written version of what I've told you there.

That gives you the details of what we've said to you.

If you do come back from abroad and you realise you've missed

a date on your summons, contact them, explain it to them.

Before Paul can issue a notice of intent to prosecute,

the driver has one more surprise for the cops.

One of what down your pants?

You've put it down your pants and it's gone hard?

It's not what you want to hear when somebody's sat behind you,

especially when you can't see what's going on!

Yeah, I'm not... I'm not going to go into what you put down your trousers, right?

Sometimes it's very hard with some people.

Some of the things they come out with, to keep a straight face.

You really do have to put a lot of effort into it.

OK, you take care. See you later.

Make sure you build up your speed on the hard shoulder

before you move into the live lane, OK?

I had to put that down my pants.

Paul and Chris can't quite believe their ears.

"I've put this down my trousers and it's gone hard."

-That is what he's just said to me, isn't it?

-It is, yeah.

What was he talking about?

He's got one of them gel things for a sports injury. They're all mushy.

He's obviously popped it down the front of his trousers...

Get your speed up, don't pull straight out. Don't do it!

Oh, he's being all right. Not too bad.

LAUGHTER

Given the fact that he has got a sporty thing

down his pants, he was sat fine until we mentioned speeding,

then he started doing his little, "Oh".

I'm sure it was a story just invented.

-He knew why we'd stopped him.

-Course he did.

No, you just never know what you're going to come across.

The joys of the job - it's different every day.

It's 9am and PCs Dale Anderson

and Helen Jones are back on the M62 near Leeds.

This time, the motorway cops are not chasing down bad drivers,

they're targeting dangerous vehicles.

I've got the first couple.

-We took five in all.

-I've got three.

-I've got two, so we took five.

-One has been a verbal one and three prohibitions.

-Yeah.

As part of an operation to get illegal vehicles off the roads,

the police are working with Customs

and VOSA from the Department for Transport.

The target on this particular week

was just a general national

road safety week,

so it's almost a catch-all.

Just get out there, see what we can find.

Dale and Helen head to a busy slipway near junction 27.

Their job is to pull vehicles in for inspection before

they have the chance to get onto the motorway.

If the vehicles are not safe or if they're doing anything

wrong in general, if they're doing it repeatedly, their turn will come.

Dale's attention is soon caught by an old recovery van.

It just stands out as a shit vehicle, really.

We'll take it in, have a look around it.

Just the age of the vehicle,

there could be a whole host of things wrong with it.

'I suppose some people may think a mountain out of a molehill.

'It may seem trivial, it may seem quite harsh,'

if we start talking about something like a bald tyre, but it's that, it

only takes a split-second for it to evolve into something so much more.

-Nothing to worry about.

-All right.

I'm sure you've been stopped on this sort of thing before.

I'm just off to Toys "R" Us, that's all. Pick a reserved present up, I thought, "What's this about?"

This guy was very chatty. I suppose it just comes with experience.

You realise some people are just trying to befriend you

as a means to an end.

It sometimes doesn't come up on the insurance thing.

-Which company is it with?

-I can't remember. I think it's Tradewise.

-If you give me a producer...

-We'll ring up and check as we always do.

Saves you producing. 'Sometimes people can seem too keen to help.'

When people start quoting these phrases,

these offences to you, if they know it that well, they've obviously been

there, been there, done it and got the T-shirt.

So it certainly makes you wonder, who exactly AM I dealing with here?

-What sort of policy is it?

-A recovery policy.

-Recovery and sales, or...?

-No, it's MOTed as well, because you're not allowed to

use them if they're MOT exempt for personal.

He tried a little bit too hard.

And everything unravelled from there, really.

Customs officers have run a check on the recovery truck's fuel

and the news isn't good for the driver.

-We tested you before.

-You tested me before.

It's about 50p a litre cheaper than the standard clear, greeny-coloured

diesel what you'd normally buy for a tractor equivalent, JCB.

As long as it's not on a road, we're fine to use it.

It's exactly the same product, but red diesel has a dye placed

in it at manufacture to indicate it's not suitable to be on the roads.

What will it be, then? A 500-quidder?

Well, you've been done before, so...

So we'll see how many times you've actually been done.

I definitely done him about three months ago, so...

The driver has an excuse.

It's not my fault. I've just put £20 worth of white in at Tesco's.

But the evidence is stacking up. His day is about to get worse.

It's almost "shake the tree and see what falls out"

and more often than not, more than one thing does.

While they continue to examine the van,

ten miles east on the M621 south of Leeds...

PCs Phil Stonebanks and Dave Robson are also on the lookout

for motorists breaking the law.

I do love my job, I mean, I couldn't be stuck in an office.

You never know what's going to happen with this job,

that's the main thing about it.

One thing they do know is that uninsured drivers

are a major problem.

One in 20 risk driving without insurance,

adding around £380 million a year to the cost of everyone else's bill.

No insurance is a massive problem,

particularly around West Yorkshire,

so we're doing our best to combat the problem as best we can.

He's not wanting to go across me, either. Skoda Fabia.

Just 30 minutes into their shift,

and a car has caught their attention.

We should play a game with him.

See how slow you can get before they do eventually come past.

The speed limit there is 50mph, as you're coming down into Leeds.

At one point, I think we got down to 38mph.

He just didn't want to come past us,

so that immediately sets the alarm bells ringing.

As the car is finally forced to overtake the cops,

Phil checks the driver's details on the Police National Database.

Fabia...

-A male driver, wasn't it?

-Yes.

Female owner, let's see who's on the insurance.

Permitted driver insured only.

That's reason enough to check him out.

-Right?

-Yeah.

99% certain it was a male driver. Bring him in.

These are the people that are our bread and butter.

We're going out there

actively trying to take these people off the road.

-Good morning.

-Morning.

-Is this your car?

-Yes.

What's your name, please? Right, marvellous.

Just checking the insurance, whose insurance are you driving on, sir?

Cos according to the insurance,

there's only you on the insurance to drive the vehicle.

You've got another vehicle that you're insured on, have you?

Is the vehicle that you're on about registered to you? In your name?

He was a bit hesitant, but he was a plausible character.

We get some people, it's obvious from the minute you start

speaking to them that they're lying through their back teeth.

But we still need to get him in the back of our car just to run

the necessary checks.

-What's your name, sir, please?

-Aaron Johnson.

Can you spell your first name for me?

Aaron. My name is Dean Johnson, but everyone calls me Aaron. D-E-A-N.

-What name's on your driving licence?

-Dean Aaron Johnson.

-And what's your home address?

-It's (BLEEP).

-Right. Are you known to the police at all? Ever been arrested?

-No.

-Right, excellent. Have you got a full driving licence?

-Yes.

-Do you have it on you?

-No, I haven't, no.

The driver licence check is usually the one that catches them out. Everybody with a driving licence,

will be recorded on the Police National Computer,

it's just a case of putting the right details into the computer.

Can you just run the driver through for us, please?

A driver licence check.

SYSTEM BEEPS

Surname of Johnson. Two forenames of Dean, Aaron.

BEEPING

Where are you heading for, then?

Just going to Leeds to a christening, yeah.

WOMAN: 'Come in 7-7-1.'

Go ahead.

-Hm.

-We tried a postcode search and everything,

but there was just nothing there, which set the alarm bells ringing.

It was quite obvious that he wasn't telling the truth.

And the driver isn't going anywhere

until Phil finds out what he's trying to hide.

Just off the M62,

the recovery truck driver is starting to feel the heat.

His vehicle is failing every test.

Now, the lack of tread on his tyres is under scrutiny.

What does that say?

0.39.

Right in the centre, so you need

1.6 millimetres to be lawful,

so this is an illegal tyre.

We're going to report it to the police officer here.

Everybody is going to be dealing with you, really.

Obviously, Customs will deal with you for their side of things,

running on red diesel. VOSA, there will be some form of a prohibition.

Also, on your brake fluid...

Things are mounting up and all the agencies,

everybody's writing their own pieces of paper.

Not good news for him when he looks around and whichever direction

he turns, he sees somebody else writing a report on him.

-The bald tyre is an automatic three points.

-He'll have to be reported...

-Will there be points?

-For the tyre?

-Will it be points?

So I'm all right with this for the licence?

-He can if he wants to, or...

-Can you take that out of my face, mate?

A bald tyre does carry points, typically.

-Because you're already on 12 points...

-He's on 15.

-He kept it in court.

-Right, OK.

It will be down to a court whether they disqualify you, won't it?

There's not much else he could have been doing wrong here today

in terms of the people what's here. His licence is showing expired

because he's not surrendered it after being given more points at court.

On the face of his licence, he's got six points,

he's actually just said he's got 15.

If I was a betting man, I'd expect him

to be subject to a disqualification on this occasion.

And now, he's also going to lose his van.

The red diesel in his engine

and the bald tyre means this vehicle is being seized.

'I don't feel sorry for these people.

'How can these people expect my sympathy?' See you later.

Everything what happened,

the vehicle ended up being taken away,

it was all their doing. It wasn't ours.

Which leaves the unhappy driver with a long walk home.

Back on the hard shoulder of the M621,

Phil and Dave are still trying to confirm the Skoda driver's identity.

The address on your licence, Aaron - is it this address,

-or is it your previous address?

-No, I was at my mum's at the time.

And that's definitely the address that's on your licence?

No, that's my address where I live now.

What address is on your licence?

-Oh, yes - it's my mum's address.

-Which is?

-Park Chase.

-Stand-by.

-Park Chase?

-Yeah.

The second excuse he came up with was oh, it must be his mum's

address that's on his licence, not his girlfriend's address.

So we checked on that one. Go ahead.

Park Chase doesn't seem to exist in Nottingham,

but there is a Chase Park.

-No, no, no. It's Park Chase.

-I don't believe this!

It was hard work with this guy.

I think he just ended up tying himself up in knots.

Have you got anything with your name on it, Aaron?

Bank cards or anything like that?

No. I've got my gym membership - I don't think this is...

Has it got your name on it anywhere?

Then he came out with his gym card which had no photograph on it,

didn't have his name on it.

-But I didn't get time!

-You're making this hard work for us!

I know, I'm sorry.

Just go have a word with your good lady, let her know what's happening.

Phil is hoping the girlfriend can shed some

light on the driver's identity.

Right, what's his full name?

Is he called Aaron, though?

Yeah. He says everyone calls him Aaron. Is it Aaron or is it Dean?

You call him Dean?

How long you been with him?

He said everyone else calls him Aaron?

'Speaking to his girlfriend,'

I don't think she even knew the name Aaron, she didn't know

where that had come from, so that was the clincher for me.

What did you say people refer to you as? Is it Dean? Or is it Aaron?

Well, yeah - Dean, but Aaron, like...

It was quite obvious that he couldn't lie straight in bed

and all the answers he was giving were just rubbish.

With all lines of inquiry drawing a blank,

Phil calls in a second motorway cop with a mobile fingerprint machine.

Just jump out for us, Aaron. He'll do it here at the side of the road.

There's a bit more room to stand here.

We're just going to put your finger on this machine

and check some details on there.

We're going to have to do it, mate.

We're not 100% satisfied with your identity,

we can't find you on any of the systems. This is the problem.

It can be frustrating when you're dealing with something like that,

when you know they're telling lies.

It's a long, laborious process to get to the end of it.

But the fingerprint device does save time.

We were able to identify him within a matter of seconds.

-No.

-Finally, the truth is out.

Darren, or Dean, aka Aaron, decides to come clean.

Go on, then - what do you want to tell us? What's your real name?

Right. Why didn't you tell us that an hour ago?

Provisional licence holders obviously aren't

allowed on the motorway, full stop.

The only place they can drive legally is on non-motorway roads,

provided they're supervised by a qualified driver.

If you do get caught, then you're looking at between five

and eight points on your driving licence and two, three,

four, £500 fine, so it's just not worth it at the end of the day.

While he tries to explain his way out of trouble,

his girlfriend leaves him to the motorway cops.

She's abandoned you, mate.

-Give her a ring.

-She's gone without you.

-A lucky escape for her.

It was quite possible that his girlfriend could have been

arrested as well for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

But the driver is still hopeful he might yet talk his way

out of trouble.

I'm not trying to talk to you like idiots or nothing like that.

Unfortunately, you have for the last hour.

You've treated us like idiots by pretending that you were someone else.

I've asked you numerous times if these are your right details

and you said yes.

That wasn't the case, was it? No is the answer, isn't it?

We can get something down on paper and then you'll be reported

for summons and you'll get a summons through the post.

'At the end of the day, we're not vindictive.'

We just couldn't turf him out

in a strange city at the side of the road, so being the nice

guys that we are, we decided to drop him off down at the train station.

'He's not done himself any favours.

'He had plenty of opportunity there to tell us his real name.'

Right, there you go, mate. We'll let you out.

But the fingerprint device doesn't lie.

It's just confirmed exactly who

he is and that he doesn't have a driving licence.

He's admitted he's not insured to drive the vehicle,

but he's also looking at going to court for the offence

of obstructing a PC by attempting to give us false details.

-That was hard work.

-We got there in the end.

High-five!

-Cheesy or what?!

-Yeah!

As night falls across West Yorkshire,

a new police team takes to the roads.

PC Mick Roffe and Rob Jones are from the Yorkshire

and Humber regional crime team.

These officers travel across four counties in search

of criminals using the roads.

We cover the whole region, which is a huge area

and you have main motorways like the A1M and M1, M62 running through it.

We're really out to catch criminals - organised crime groups,

burglars, car thieves, drug dealers, that kind of thing.

Tonight, they are travelling in convoy behind another unmarked car.

They don't normally deal with traffic offences, but as

they leave the M1 to join the M621, a driver grabs their attention.

Poor driving annoys every decent motorist. The cops are no different.

This guy was absolutely right up behind us, you know,

fag paper between us,

trying to push his way past and hadn't twigged that we were police.

Tell Roffe to keep an eye on him,

because he might just cane it on here and then he might just go

right up the chuff of that wagon.

Roffe, just keep an eye on this Toyota in front of us please, mate.

He's been right up our chuff all the way down that last road.

There's a Toyota Yaris just in front of us come onto the motorway,

cut right across us on the white paint on t'carriageway far too early.

That's potentially very dangerous.

Once the driver hits the fast lane, he puts his foot down.

Is it still 50 here?

75 now, outside lane.

You're going to have him, aren't you?

-Your rat is coming out.

-It's growing.

The rat's going to bite him in a minute.

Cops have a nickname for their colleagues who dish out tickets.

The term rat or black rat is widely known, I think, as traffic officers.

It's a generic term, it's seen as a bit of a joke

really that they do a great job and are very good at what they do.

Roffe's inner rat is surfacing, mate.

He's thinking about a speeding ticket.

I have a reputation for being the rat on the team.

So it's quite amusing to me that he's the one that was getting

all het up about the way this fellow was driving.

But the driver's not finished yet.

Is he going to squeeze his way in here? Oh, every time!

As soon as he crossed those white lines, and pulled that dangerous

manoeuvre, that was a point where there's no going back from this.

He's defo won himself a ticket.

When he got to the feeding-in lane there, he's gone straight

across the chevron areas, making his own lane up as he goes along.

So we're going to have words about the manner of his driving.

You. Over.

If we'd not stopped him and spoken to him, then I have every

expectation that he would have caused an accident at some point.

How do?

-All right, mate?

-Are you in a rush for any particular reason?

Can you take a seat in ours, mate, have a quick natter?

Bring your keys.

Just jump in the back. This side.

Otherwise you'll get squashed on the motorway.

And THAT is FAR too much writing.

I didn't like his driving at all, no.

Obviously in a rush for some reason,

but far too quick and he was doing silly manoeuvres as well.

When you're joining in rush-hour conditions and it's busy,

a slight manoeuvre could go wrong, really.

He could end up causing all sorts of carnage.

Right, pal.

You've obviously committed several offences there, with your manner of driving.

It's unfortunate for you that we're in an unmarked car and have captured it on video.

HE CAUTIONS HIM

Anything you do so may be given in evidence. Do you understand that?

Anything you want to say to that?

-No? OK.

-Mick just got into full flow straightaway

and started trying to educate this fellow on the error of his ways.

I'll warn you about your manoeuvres joining, crossing solid white paint,

joining onto the 621, and I'll warn you about your due care and attention as you overtook them cars

as it comes to two lanes, to one lane on the entry to here,

you've gone all the way down the outside, all over the hatchings,

cut past three cars and then joined, haven't you?

If you remember that?

Do you have any points on your licence at the minute?

How many?

Six. What for?

What, on the average cameras?

What, twice? Or just once, or...?

Right.

I've filled in this fixed penalty notice.

Fixed penalty is what it says it is.

It's three penalty points on your licence and a £60 fine.

He may learn one day when he's either, if he's lucky,

he'll lose his licence, but if he's unlucky,

he'll cause someone to be killed or seriously injured.

-He needs to sort himself out.

-He's got six points already.

Both on 25 June on the M62.

So he's not learning his lesson.

-Mine, or his?

-It will never quell Jonesey's inner rat!

20 miles away,

just north of Bradford, PC Andy Barron is back on shift.

Tonight, he's with PC Martin Willis.

In the early hours of the morning, the roads may be quiet,

but there are still plenty of lawbreakers around.

We get people that are high on drugs, people that are really

drunk, we get people with prostitutes in their car that are

engaged in sexual activities...

It could be anything at that sort of time in the morning.

Let's run this one. In fact, let's just stop him.

'It was a car that was out of place.'

It was late at night and there was not a lot of traffic on the road.

'I recall this car being driven'

what we would describe as erratic.

-See if he's had a drink.

-That's what I'm thinking.

Everything is worth a stop, isn't it?

'It was doing things that you wouldn't expect a careful, competent driver to do.'

It just heightens your suspicion.

Have a seat.

Hello, fella.

You could smell the alcohol, he'd been drinking something.

'He almost crawled out of the car.'

Sorry, what did you say your name was?

-James.

-OK, James.

Because I can smell alcohol, I'm going to request a breath test,

all right?

Where is it you're travelling to?

-Is this where you were going to stop anyway?

-Yeah.

-Do you live here?

-No. I have a business here.

-OK, mate.

All you're required to do is a deep breath, long,

continuous blow through this machine until it stops beeping.

-All right?

-Have you been given a breath test before?

-Yes.

-Go on, then.

-MACHINE BEEPS

-A bit hard, I think?

-Is it doing it?

-We'll see if it goes on that.

It were a bit hard, but we'll see.

The driver seems to know he's in big trouble.

Anything above an alcohol count of 35 and he risks losing his licence.

I think from speaking to you, you're probably going to be over the limit.

-Yeah.

-Think you're expecting it...

-Yes, I am.

-It's gone to 112.

-And what should I be?

-35.

-How many?

-35.

-Oh, (BLEEP). OK.

Mixing a car with alcohol to that level is more dangerous than

a loaded gun.

You're talking a tonne of metal on a road at speed,

it's going to devastate anything that it hits.

You'll have to come with us to the station,

-we have to get a more accurate sample.

-All right.

-OK, James.

At this moment, you're under arrest on suspicion of driving a motor vehicle whilst over the limit.

HE CAUTIONS HIM

-Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?

-I do.

(BLEEP).

His world has just ended.

I think he knew about it as soon as I spoke to him.

He was, "Shit, shit".

He's just blown three or four times over the legal limit.

So he's coming with us, drink-driving.

So this is going to have a big impact on him, unfortunately for him.

But right now, the driver still thinks he can beat the breath test.

Can we stop off and get something to eat, please?

-Can I have a burger?

-You can't.

I don't want to fall out with you, James, but we've got various rules.

-I'm not being rude.

-No, you're not.

I'm trying obviously not to fail this,

-because if I fail this, I'm absolutely f...

-Yes.

He were full of himself, he was in high spirits. He was typically drunk.

I got the impression that if he thought he could be really,

really pally and confident with us, that we

would take him down the curry shop I think and buy him a takeaway!

Can I call my solicitor before I even do any of this?

I'm not being rude, but I'm probably going to blow over...

You can't delay the evidential sample.

He seemed to think that if he delayed it,

he would be much more likely to get off and he was quite happy to

tell us that, and tell us that were his tactic.

And as they pull into the police station,

the driver makes another desperate attempt to get off.

Unless you all want to go out and we'll all just get laid, be easier.

-'Incredible, some of the things he were coming out with.'

-Crap.

But again, we expect everything when you're drunk.

Come on, mate.

Not surprisingly, it doesn't work.

His only destination is the custody suite,

where he will be providing the breath test that will really count.

70 miles away on the M62 near Hull,

Mick and Rob are still on the road.

They're racing to a suspected break-in.

RADIO EXCHANGE BEGINS

..Suffolk Terrace, just off Suffolk Street.

Hotel Uniform 5 postcode.

'When that kind of call comes in, you know there could be a job in it.'

You get that bit of adrenaline spike and you just know,

if we can get into the area,

'and get everything sorted and catch these people,'

it's just why you come to work.

They've just passed the job out of a local channel saying there's been

some burglars disturbed on premises somewhere nearby.

We're less than half a mile from the address.

There's a couple of cars making their way.

There's no descriptions of anybody. We don't know what's been stolen,

so we're going to get there and see if we can contain the area

and hopefully grab two burglars.

Get out on foot, cos it's all gated and terraced, innit?

VOICES ON RADIO

I'm going for a wander.

'Mick and I were making'

a bit of an area search to try and find people running away

from the address, if you like, hopefully swag bag in hand.

'Once someone's disturbed, or they commit a crime,'

they're off on their toes, they won't be at the scene of the crime.

Who's that?

Come round that corner quick, didn't he?

I could see a guy, er, run from right to left

and he came running into the terrace towards us.

'And I instantly thought, "This is him, this has got to be him."'

-Lads!

-Hey, buddy, how we doing?

-Not bad.

-Can we borrow you two seconds?

-Course you can.

Hands out your pockets, pop. What are you up to, pal?

-Went for a walk.

-You've been running, haven't you?

-I haven't!

-I suffer with asthma, mate!

-Do you?

-Do you?

-Yeah.

-You're out of breath.

-What's your name?

-Martin John McClutchy.

-There's been a burglary nearby, pal.

-Hands out your pockets.

-Nowt to do with me, mate!

-We don't know that until we speak to you!

Well, speak... Can you let go of me, please?

For now, you'll be searched under Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

-I've done nothing wrong, mate!

-You're being searched.

-I'll...

-No, hands out of your pockets.

-All right!

-I don't know you, do I?

-I...

-Stop putting your hands in your pockets.

-Martin, you're getting upset for some reason.

-Just...

-Calm down.

Ultimately, he could be doing anything

by putting his hands in there. He could have a weapon, he may want

to attack me, he may have some evidence that he wants to conceal.

-Keep your hands out.

-Where we can see them.

Don't put your hands in the air, pal. It's not America.

-When people go in their pockets, I don't know what's in there.

-I...

Let me explain. There's been a burglary not two streets away.

-You've come round the corner running, haven't you?

-I haven't, mate.

-Why have you come running?

-I came walking round.

-You didn't.

-I did.

-No, you never.

-I did. I've done nothing wrong, mate.

-That is God's honest...

-Are you known to us?

-It's not illegal to run.

-Yeah.

-What are you known for?

-Burglary...

-Burglary?

-No, excuse me, let me finish.

-Burglary in the past, mate.

-How long since is past?

-Last time I got done for burglary?

-Yeah.

-'06.

-Right.

-VOICES ON RADIO

Last time you were charged or last time you were arrested?

This guy, er, I knew at the time was a career criminal. He's committed

burglaries all his life, really, from being very, very young

up until how old he is now, and he's as old as my dad.

Cos that's for... That's my torch.

-What's that for?

-My torch? My lamp, on my bike.

-It's not a bike lamp, it's just a torch.

-No, I know that. You see...

-Oh, it ain't looking good for you, pal.

-Listen...

-Eh?

-Listen!

-Come on!

He's just a pain, he's just a bit of a blight on society, really.

He's never going to be rehabilitated, never going to stop what he's doing.

He will commit crime all his life.

-COINS RATTLE

-That's my money. My lighters.

I'm going to put it on top of this bin, all right?

And I'll tell you now, and I've been nicked with him before,

-and I've been let out.

-I'm going to find something in here, then?

-I...

-We're building up to something here, aren't we?

-No, no!

Some ball bearings that I use for stress in my hand.

-Ball bearings for stress in your hand?

-Yeah.

-Listen...

-Not smashing windows?

-No.

-I don't smash windows, mate.

-Oh, don't you?

-No.

They're not stress balls, they're ball bearings for breaking windows,

but from then on, I think he knew, in the back of his mind,

that he was on a hiding to nothing, because, before I had searched him

and found things, he started to offer explanations for them.

I'll tell you now,

-I've got some spark plugs that I've had in my pocket for months.

-Oh?

-Some spark plugs as well?

-Yeah, I've had them for months.

-Funny that.

-I've even been nicked before by him.

-Right.

-And I hadn't done nothing.

-Strange that you're nicked with me now, innit?

-So what?

It's the ceramic coating around the top of the spark plug.

It's mega, mega sharp when it's broken off into pieces.

It's classic tools to, um, smash windows.

The cops have more than enough evidence to arrest him.

Next, he's going to take his coat off and he'll have a stripy jumper on

and a black mask or something like that,

cos it's just absolute classic burglary.

It couldn't have been a better job for us.

I almost could've pulled out a bag that said swag on it.

-I'll put these cuffs on, mate.

-What for? What for?

HANDCUFFS CLICK

At this moment in time, you're under arrest on suspicion of burglary.

-It's happened two or three times.

-Nowt to do with me!

-With good reason!

-With good reason what?

-If it's nowt to do with you, then it's nowt to...

-Nowt to do with me!

-Well, we'll see, won't we?

-Yeah.

You try to, not to laugh, you've obviously got to remain professional,

but in the back of your mind, you think, "These are ridiculous excuses,

"I know what you've done, you know, why are you bothering?"

I don't do burglaries now!

-That...

-And that is God's honest truth!

-Listen to me.

I was caught last week...

-You're out of breath, you've got gloves on you...

-Listen...

Stuff to smash windows with.

For information, the lad we've got locked up on suspicion of this job

has got, um, ball bearings in his pockets and apparently spark plugs

on his person, so if you can find any ball bearings, that'd be good.

While the man protests his innocence...

-Nothing to do with me!

-Steady, mate.

-Thank you.

..Rob waits to hear back from officers at the burgled house...

Right, what else is in here?

..and then finds his own key piece of evidence.

Is that a lady's watch?

ON RADIO: '..window smashed, completely shattered.'

At that point, I was thinking, "This lad is bang to rights."

That watch has to be from the burglary.

-Get that camera out of my

-BLEEP

-face!

-Hey, listen!

-Martin, calm down.

-Shut up!

And the burglar seems to know that his fate is sealed.

Back in Bradford, Andy and Martin have arrived

in the custody suite with their drunk driver.

Hi, Sergeant. OK, um, he's come and sat in the back of the vehicle,

I could smell intoxicants on his breath

and he's provided a breath sample, um,

of 112 micrograms in 100ml of breath.

That's a reading more than three times over the legal limit.

This driver had consumed an awful lot of alcohol.

What time did you start drinking?

Um, five, then stopped. Three hours, um...

Then nine till 11.

I think, no matter how drunk you are,

at some point is that conscious decision that you're going

to get in a car and drive it when you're not fit to drive it.

-First question, would you like a solicitor?

-Yes.

-Anybody in particular?

-Yup.

-Who would that be?

I would need a Yellow Pages or the internet, please.

Well, you can't have the internet.

Right, Yellow Pages, er, for Bradford and Wakefield, please?

The cops think the driver could still be trying

to delay his final breath test.

He were coming out with various tactics.

He wanted to read the Yellow Pages and the phone book at one point,

which clearly would take you all night.

That weren't going to happen.

-A Miss Vollins...

-Vollins?

-Vollins or Rashid.

Which company? Are they criminal solicitors?

Don't know yet. I'll find out when I speak to them.

-So they're not criminal solicitors, or not on our list, you can't have them.

-No need to find them.

Well, what we can do is contact the duty solicitor, which is the...

I'm not trying to be rude, but I'm not having the duty solicitor.

-OK.

-They're absolute bullshit.

'I have no sympathy at all for people like that. They've taken the risk.'

They've been caught and they deserve everything they get.

MACHINE BEEPS Keep going, keep going, keep going,

keep going, keep going, keep going,

keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.

BEEP! That's brilliant. That's good.

Right, put that down.

Your lowest reading's 83 micrograms of alcohol

in 100ml of breath, OK?

Er, it is over the limit. The legal limit's 35.

So what will happen, you will be charged with driving

whilst over the prescribed drink drive limit.

Our priority is to save lives.

We deal with death and destruction on a regular basis,

far too regular, and we want to stop that or reduce it if we can

and the only way to do that is to take these drivers off the road,

cos they are an absolute hazard.

In Hull, Mick and Rob are with a suspected burglar

waiting to hear if a watch has been reported stolen from a nearby house.

-DKNY?

-Yeah, that's it.

Happy days! What, taken from this one?

INAUDIBLE RESPONSE, HE LAUGHS

It gets better already.

There was a women's DKNY watch taken from this burglary.

He's got that in his pocket. So he's obviously done the job.

So he's caught red-handed, so to speak.

I've done nothing wrong and he thinks he's clever,

getting me for something I haven't done!

HE LAUGHS: He's going to get off with it, apparently.

The fact that the watch from the burglary is in his pocket

two streets away from the burglary,

I don't think he's going to get away with it.

So we've got a torch, some ball bearings, the spark plugs,

and then, now we've got the watch from the house,

from the burglary, which absolutely ties it up for us,

it's a hole in one, doesn't get any better than that.

With the case sewn up, the cops arrange for the burglar to be

transported to a police station in Hull while they follow on behind.

-Hey-hey!

-Result or what?

-Result or what!

Happy days! "Whose is this watch?" "I found it."

-"Oh, did you, in the house?"

-Found it!

-See when he took the spark plugs out of his pocket as well?

-Yeah.

"I've had them in there ages." "Have you?" "Yeah." "Oh, right, yeah."

Like you said, every time you went into a pocket,

it was like, "I'll tell you this as well!"

He was absolutely bang to rights. There was no way he was going

to wiggle out of that, no matter how much he denied it.

But at the station,

they find him still sticking to his unlikely story.

There you go, mate, all right?

-Come on.

-Don't touch me, you.

-What's up with you?

-You're arresting me for...

-Hey, listen!

-No...

-Calm down, Martin.

-I will do. Can I just say...?

-Let's go over here.

-No, you're arresting me for something I haven't

-BLEEP

-done!

-Why have you got a lady's watch in your pocket, then?

-What?

-Why have you got a lady's watch in your pocket?

-I bought it!

-Did you?

-Yeah.

-All right.

Just come and stand at the desk here, buddy.

-DESK SERGEANT:

-Alleged offence?

-Burglary.

Not guilty.

We made an area search and sighted this gentleman running...

-No, no...

-..into Vermont Villas.

-Walking, walking into Vermont.

-When I spoke to him, he was out of breath.

-Because I suffer with asthma.

I conducted a search of his person and seized from him

a silver women's DKNY watch from his rear pocket of his jeans

and he was arrested on suspicion of burglary.

Something I haven't done.

It's harassment, that's all it is.

He never stopped coming out with excuses, because I think...

He's just a career criminal and I think he's got in his head

that he has to deny it to the end, because he knows, if he makes

any admission throughout, we will use it against him, and we will.

He's been in the game long enough to know to deny everything

up until the point where he's standing before the jury.

-Do you know something? I got arrested every...

-Martin...

-No!

-Stand at the desk...

-Get off!

-Calm down! Calm yourself down.

-Stop it or you'll be restrained accordingly.

-Don't start with that.

-I have been restrained!

-Come on, mate, this way, please.

-Before you just take him,

-I could do with seizing his clothes.

-No!

-We'll do it in the cell.

-Have you got any brown bags I could borrow?

-I'll get some.

-Thank you.

Where are we going, Rob?

-Martin...

-All right, all right, all right!

-Get off!

-What?

-Kick your shoes off before you go in.

-I will!

-Kick your shoes off, please, pal.

All right?

It is a bit of a game to them, um, as much as it is to us and that's not

to trivialise it, it's just as much as cops and robbers, if you like.

'We're out there to catch them, they're out there to evade capture.'

LOCK CLICKS

We'll see his clothing for, you know, glass transfer and all that

kind of stuff if he had smashed a window. He's covered in it, so...

-I can't think why that would be.

-No.

-Perhaps he bought that as well.

It's a shame now that we have to sit and do three hours of paperwork...

-Yeah! Just to prove he's a burglar.

-I know, yeah.

The driver stopped with the vanload of cannabis pleaded guilty to

possession of drugs, dangerous driving and failure to stop.

He was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

No further action was taken against the passenger.

There was insufficient evidence to prove

there had been a burglary at the cannabis house.

The driver who claimed he was speeding because he had

a bad stomach was given six points on his licence and fined £400.

The recovery van driver was disqualified from driving

for six months for having an expired driving licence.

For the bald tyre, he was issued with three penalty points

and fined £250 and, for running his truck on illegal red diesel,

he was fined £500.

The man caught on the M621

without insurance and the correct driving licence

was also charged with obstructing a police officer.

He was given eight points on his provisional licence and fined £110.

The tailgating driver, who took off at speed on the M621,

was given three points and issued with a £60 fine.

The drunk driver was disqualified from driving for 16 months

and fined £235.

And the man caught red-handed with the stolen watch pleaded guilty

to burglary and was given two years and four months in prison.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd