DAY 17: Stolen Ifor Williams trailer found during multi-agency op at Knowl Hill, Maidenhead




Police officers pull over vehicles of interest like commercial vans, flat bed trucks and lorries

 Windsor and Maidenhead Local Policing Area also held a multi-agency ANPR operation with Datatag and VOSA last week.

Vehicles drive onto the ANPR checkpoint

Throughout the day there were 9 hits for a mixture of traffic related issues. Vehicles with no tax or no insurance were stopped and dealt with.



Checks are carried out to ensure they are legal or not stolen property



Datatag’s Nick Mayall patrolled with PC Probert from the Maidenhead area and identified an Ifor Williams trailer which looked like it could be stolen. The trailer was brought back to the ANPR check site and after a few enquiries was confirmed to have been stolen from Surrey in 2005 and worth approximately
£2000. The trailer has been seized and enquiries will be carried out to get the trailer back to the rightful owner.

VOSA carried out their vehicle checks from a vehicle road worthiness point of view.

All in all a productive day for the team!



DAY 14 and 15: Multi-agency ANPR operation to tackle metal thefts in Maidenhead

The aim of this operation using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras was to disrupt and prevent crime in the rural area by pulling over vehicles of interest, or those which have been highlighted as ‘used in crime’ previously.

Although the team were specifically on the lookout for vehicles which could be linked with rural crime and in particular, metal thefts (metal theft is often linked to rural crime as stolen agricultural machinery and tools can be sold on illegally as scrap metal), other offences and the offenders are caught during these operations because obviously, you never know who is going to be driving past!

The ‘multi-agency’ bit of the operation came in the form of support from VOSA (with the Environment Agency and Datatag helping out on Day 15). VOSA are able to use specific ‘civil’ powers such as prohibition orders which are used to get dangerous cars and vehicles off the road and keep them off if until they conform to the legal MOT standards.

During the operation, the police team pulled over a car for no insurance which was then seized under Section 165. As VOSA were there too, they carried out checks and were able to put a prohibition order onto the vehicle for two bald tyres and a frayed seatbelt. This means the driver can’t simply drive away an un-roadworthy vehicle once insurance has been sorted out under the Police order.



Car being seized for no insurance and at the same time was put on a prohibition order for being un-roadworthy



The team also pulled over larger, commercial vehicles like Transit vans and flat bed trucks or others which are often used to steal larger farm tools or ferry stolen scrap metal from one place to another. The team set up on the A4 and throughout the day pulled over 18 of these types of vehicles and all appeared to be in order!



Police officer and VOSA making sure all is in order with a flat bed truck









DAY 7: Tack marking at Snowball Farm and feisty Friesians on the A40

PCSO Vicky Kiffin had a busy day yesterday (7/8) marking up horse tack at Snowball Farm in Burnham. 40 pieces of tack were marked using Datatag’s equestrian security kits.

TVP have secured discounts on Datatag tack marking kits for Thames Valley horse owners. See the below flier for more info. If you would like to speak to your Neighbourhood Policing Team about securing your stables and tack, you can find out who they are and contact them via the TVP website.





Tack marking at Snowball Farm



In udder news...

PCSO Anish Sharma came across a group of unruly road users on the A40 in Gerrards Cross: The team tweeted: “We are responding to a report of a cow on the road on the A40 in Gerrards Cross - Please drive with care whilst we try and mooooo-ve it on!!”

It was later established a group of not one, but seven cows were loose on the road, milking the officer’s time and energy trying to remove these boisterous bovines back to where they came from.

Thankfully, the group caused no beef with other traffic and they were returned safely and unharmed.