SIREN WAILS
This is Police Interceptors...
Get on the ground!
Police Interceptors? The real-life one?
I'm gonna tell my kids about this.
..and you're riding with the pride of Northamptonshire.
- TYRES SQUEAL - Come on!
Ace pursuit drivers...
Contact, contact, contact.
..with air support...
Got two out, stand by.
..and a crack dog unit.
If you move, you will get bit.
Argh!
- They bring down the bad guys... - Police!
I believe you are wanted, mate.
Police with a dog, stand still!
..keep the streets safe...
- Put your arms behind your back. - I am!
Get on the floor!
..and battle 24/7...
- Get down on the floor. - ..in the war on crime.
- Crash, crash. - On the floor now!
It is what it is. We find them, we lock them up.
Coming up...
Vehicle is trying to ram its way out at the minute, stand by.
..a fast-food fan who's in one heck of a hurry.
One running parallel to the A14.
I think he might go, mate, if you get out.
A shifty-looking Beamer lays down the gauntlet.
Yeah, yeah, get in.
One-one, got a vehicle failing to stop, Bewick Road, Northampton.
GLASS SMASHING And...
..an act of senseless violence
kicks off an evening of chaos for the cops.
- Other hand behind your back. - Argh!
Argh! I will move over. Argh!
It's the weekend, typically the busiest time
for any police officer, especially those on the night shift.
In Northamptonshire,
with more than two decades' experience policing between them,
firearms cops Tony and Nathan know exactly what lies in store.
Tonight is Saturday night,
which means we're gonna get drink drivers, fights,
there's a big FA Cup game today, is it Northampton and Kettering?
Northampton and Kettering, and Kettering won, which is a big shock,
so there'll be a lot of intoxicated people from that.
It's still early doors, it's only half nine,
but I'd imagine there's going to be a lot of fights
and a lot of drink drivers tonight.
It's now the early hours, and at this town centre nightspot,
the evening has passed largely without incident, until now.
GLASS SMASHING
A man on the street has launched his boot into the frontage.
As a group of shocked revellers gather to watch,
he does it again, and again,
until all four windows had been shattered.
Moments later, he's wrestled to the ground by the bar's bouncer.
On the outskirts of town, dog handler Sean
is the closest interceptor to the action.
Yeah, I can go down there. What'll need doing with him?
What do you mean, he's got to be detained?
DOG BARKS
As always, Sean has German shepherd Peggy in the boot.
Copied, it's at the top end, by Radio Northampton.
But the boozed-up chaos of a busy nightlife area
isn't a safe space for a police dog.
Delta-Bravo-ten-six, we're not very popular with
quite a few of them.
So Sean must step into this uncertain
and potentially hostile situation alone.
I'm sure you've probably seen. Hello!
How are you? All right?
Every one of our windows, they've been smashed.
- He's done that, has he? - Yeah, he's done it.
So we've got him detained on the floor.
- I'll come back. - Thank you very much.
We're going to need transport, he's smashed all the windows at the pub.
It turns out the bloke who kicked the window
was a disgruntled drinker who'd been ejected and refused re-entry.
Just make sure someone watches my van.
He's still on the pavement, under the watchful eye of the bouncer.
- Hey, buddy, you all right? - Can we leave him now?
One second, yeah. Put your hands in front of you.
Put your hands in front of you, stack them like that.
Put your hands in front of you.
- What am I arrested for? - Criminal damage.
You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence
if you don't mention when questioned
something you later rely on in court.
Anything you do say may be given in evidence.
The bloke is using all his strength to resist the cuffs.
You gonna be an idiot? You gonna be an idiot?
OK, you go on your front, then. Can you go on your front, then? Yep?
Fortunately, the bouncer is on team interceptor.
Put your other hand behind your back.
- Other hand behind your back. - Argh! Argh!
And with the help of a second member of the door staff team,
the window kicker is finally in cuffs.
Zero-two-five, I don't know if you saw that,
male's resisting, I've got help from the door staff.
I'll take the pressure off you -
- you've just got to start staying still. - I'm not moving!
- You're bouncing up and down. Just relax. - I'm not!
The prime suspect may be secured,
but this whole scenario is rapidly becoming a powder keg...
Guys! Police Interceptors, yes!
..especially for a cop on his own.
- BLEEP - the feds. - Did you hear that?
PEOPLE SHOUTING
Sean needs extra muscle ASAP.
- SIREN WAILS - Come on, Volvo.
This pair will do nicely.
He's struggling trying to control one of them by himself.
Door staff are having to run over to help him.
- So we're just gonna give him assistance. - Left, left.
Before becoming a cop, man mountain Tony was in the army.
These days, his passions are rugby, red meat and lifting weights,
which is also known as the tough guy holy trinity.
Through there, through this gap here.
His partner tonight, Nathan, also knows his way around the gym.
These two should be able to keep a lid on any simmering tensions.
- Just watch your back. - Yeah.
Just make sure we've got 360.
Hello! You ain't got to do that, bro.
What you doing, you little weirdo?
There's now more than 50 people spilling out on the streets.
We're not going to talk to you. We don't need to talk to you, OK?
So off you go. Off you go.
PEOPLE SHOUTING
Keeping the mob calm and the suspect secured
is like walking a slippery tightrope.
All they're doing is rolling you onto your side,
so you don't need to move.
- My left hand. - We'll move...
Right, I will move over. Argh!
Because the man resisted when he was being cuffed,
he says his arm hurts.
- Argh! - He's resisted.
But his shouting seems to light a fuse with the crowd.
With camera phones in their faces,
the police do their best to keep the onlookers contained.
But tensions soon reach boiling point.
In the melee, a woman swings her leg
at one of the interceptors.
Big mistake.
AV2, you need to come down Abington Street, you need to do it now.
WOMAN SCREAMS
As the police attempt to restrain her,
friends rush to her defence...
..and another woman has to be pulled off.
Their one job now,
to stop things spiralling completely out of control.
Get off of me. You're assaulting me!
GLASS SMASHING
In Northampton,
dog handler Sean raced to the town centre
to detain a man who'd been kicking in windows at a popular bar.
But when a crowd of partygoers turned on the cops,
and one woman swung a leg at one of the interceptors,
things erupted into chaos.
Get off of me, you're assaulting me, you're assaulting me!
- Right, you need to relax. - Get off of me!
No, you need to relax. She's under arrest.
Lashing out at a police officer
is one of the quickest ways to get yourself nicked.
- What have I done?! - You assaulted a police officer.
- How did I assault a police officer?! - You kicked a police officer.
SHOUTING AND SCREAMING
SIRENS WAIL
Fifteen minutes after Sean first rocked up, the riot van has arrived.
- I'm walking, I'm walking. - Yeah, you are, you are.
But now, it's a taxi for two.
And with that, it's finally time to hit the road.
Whoop, whoop, that's the sound of the...!
There was quite a few there,
more than I anticipated when they gave the original call out,
and the crowd was quite hostile straightaway.
The language towards the police car on our arrival didn't bode well,
and obviously, I'm on my own,
can't get the dog out just at that, for a group.
I didn't see the chap who was on the floor,
because of the crowd,
then the bouncers have come over
and explained that they've smashed all the windows on the pub.
So I've tried to arrest him for the criminal damage,
at which point, he's just kicked off
and tried to throw the bouncer off and try and get up.
So ended up in a bit of a melee trying to get him in handcuffs,
and then I had to just wait for everybody else.
But it was one of those situations where you've got people behind you,
and I can hear glass breaking,
and it's not a nice place to be when you're on your own,
and the dog's not out the car.
Tony predicted a busy night, and he was bang on the money.
And it's not good news from the nick.
Just been told the Northampton custody suite is full,
they can't accept any more prisoners.
Therefore, the two prisoners we've got,
we've now got to go to Kettering.
The worrying thing is,
there's still another two to three hours left of their drinking time,
which means it's only going to get worse.
There's now no space in custody, no officers on the street.
Drunken behaviour and alcohol-related incidents
put a massive strain on police resources.
In England and Wales, almost 40% of violent crime cases
are thought to be fuelled by booze.
There's no point in acting bigger - just sit down.
- I'll sit down. - There you go.
At custody, the man has finally stopped lashing out,
giving Tony a glimpse of his ankle jewellery.
What's the tag for?
It's unlikely his probation officer
will be thrilled to hear about tonight's antics.
But for the interceptors this evening, a rapid response
helped defuse a highly combustible situation.
When Sean shouts for help,
because we work so closely with ARVs and the dogs,
there's not many of us.
So when one of us shouts for help, no matter where we are,
the rest of us will drop what we're doing
and try and make it as quick as we can to help them.
We're tight. We're a very tight-knit team, and we work as a family.
Dispersed most of the crowd, and, as it stands,
we've got two in custody,
and hopefully, that's done for the rest of the night.
After the night at Kettering nick,
the woman was released without charge.
However, window smasher was interviewed in relation
to the suspected criminal damage and later pleaded guilty in court.
He was ordered to pay nearly £200 in fines and costs.
SIRENS WAIL
One white male driver, no other occupants.
A high-speed pursuit...
Through the red ATS.
..is like a heavyweight fight.
He's going round the roundabout, it's a reciprocal.
Your opponent can duck and dive...
- SMASHING - You all right? - Yep.
..and even land the occasional left hook.
I believe it's made contact with another vehicle.
But the toughest part of any contest...
Confirm, you want an abort, abort.
..is knowing when to throw in the towel.
Yeah, vehicle's continuing towards Kettering.
I have aborted.
If, for whatever reason, we've had a vehicle fail to stop
and we haven't been able to get a tactic in place,
it's really frustrating.
The upside is, if we're able to still locate the car afterwards,
there's so much evidence within that car,
and also, it's just a little tick in the box for us.
Because if it's a stolen car, then it's no longer stolen,
we've recovered that car.
If it's just a no-docs vehicle, you've taken that car off the road,
it's one less uninsured driver on the road, who may have had a crash.
So there are actually a load of benefits to getting that car,
even if you don't get the driver, so you haven't really lost anything.
SIREN WAILS
Right, go wait up, you know, by the school down here?
Oh, yeah, there?
It's Thursday evening,
and Chris and Callum have been sent on a mission.
We're waiting for a vehicle
with some very loose drugs intel on the drive past.
So we're just going park up and see if we can see who's in it
and just see how it reacts, basically.
The suspect motor, a Ford Kuga,
pinged a local ANPR camera a few minutes ago.
That's a Kuga, I think.
I think that's a woman driving it, though,
but it is a black Kuga.
- That is gonna be the car. - Yeah, that is it.
The boys are in the marked car, so the Kuga surely clocked them.
- I didn't notice them paying us much attention, though. - No.
Is he...? He's committing, isn't he, onto the...? Oh, hello.
ENGINE REVVING
Now a sharp burst of acceleration from that Beamer up ahead
has tweaked Chris's copper's nose.
- Sorry, I'm more interested in this now. - I know.
It sounds like the Kuga will have to wait.
- I don't know why he was accelerating so hard when we're behind him. - No.
Let me try this one.
Callum runs the Beamer's particulars.
"Road traffic offences in Derbyshire in October."
This bloke's definitely worth a sniff.
Oh, that's interesting.
The driver is taking two successive left turns, not a crime in itself,
but it's definitely raising flags.
- Just doing a strange old route. - Yeah.
For someone from Market Harborough as well.
Advanced driver Chris says the best advice he's ever received
on the force is that "two lefts don't make a right".
Shall we light them up?
So he shows him the blues, and the fella complies.
You really stopping there?
But the boys smell a rat.
I think he might go, mate, if you get out.
Yeah, his foot's on the brake.
- Callum decides to test him. - Yeah, yeah, get in.
Go.
One-one, got a vehicle failing to stop, Bewick Road, Northampton.
The sporty 3 Series has shot off like a rocket,
but the boys are in a Beamer too, a 340i packing 369 horses.
Can I give you the reg, please?
But there's not good news from control.
We're Lumbertubs Way, north. What does Fin want to do?
The situation has been deemed unsafe for the boys to pursue,
so they've got little choice but to abort.
Knew he was gonna go.
One-one, he was doing excess speed when we got behind him.
He was doing well in excess at 100 miles an hour up Lumbertubs,
he's just gone on into the distance now, Lumbertubs north.
But they haven't lost sight of him completely.
We can see in the distance he's going into the east district.
- His hazard's on, he's stopped. - He's got his hazards on.
So what's he playing at?
Can we have a dog towards us?
He's gone in towards Thorplands. Can the dog just head towards anyway?
I know we can't pursue it, but he's gone into an estate.
He's probably going to decamp.
But just as quickly as he reappeared,
the suspect vanishes once more.
- Left or straight? - Keep going, pal. Keep going, pal.
The boys crisscross the area for the next ten minutes.
I reckon that left, mate, when we came in.
Cos I reckon they came in left, decamp.
We'll go and have a look.
They soon receive intel that the suspect Beamer
has been ditched in another housing estate nearby.
For the offence of failing to stop for police,
we can, if we locate the vehicle, even if no-one is with it,
we've got a power of seizure to seize the vehicle.
So if we find it, we'll certainly be having it away.
When they arrive on the scene, the dog handler is already there,
and he's had a good look around the motor.
There's scratches all the way round it, bonnet, sides.
- Oh, dear. - The tyres are knackered.
Oh, my God, look at that. Look at the state of the alloy.
This poor old 3 Series has certainly been through the wars.
- Ah, he's got the seat reclined in... - Yeah.
"..insert your own word for it here" mode.
- Yeah. - CHUCKLING
You can see all the cannabis dust and crap in the seats.
The car is registered to a private business in Leicestershire,
and once police have tracked down the owner,
they'll have a few questions to answer about who was
behind the wheel this evening.
And they'll need to fork out a few hundred quid
if they want it released from the pound.
It's a shame we haven't got somebody out of it and someone in custody,
but we've got to take a win where there's a win,
and we've taken the vehicle off him.
So he'd have to pay the fees to get it back, he or she.
They're going to have to also give us
a line of inquiry to see who's been driving it tonight,
identify who's decided not to stop for us and have driven like a wally.
Tonight's a good result, really, overall.
We'll take that as one-nil to us tonight.
Despite thorough investigation, it couldn't be established
who was behind the wheel during the pursuit.
With no definitive evidence identifying the driver,
the case was eventually filed.
Coming up...
Harrison takes one for the team.
Yeah, vehicle is trying to ram its way out at the minute. Stand by.
And later...
- Reverse ram. - TYRES SCREECH
Reverse ram. Vehicle's been rammed.
..so do Chris and Callum.
- Show me your hands now! - Get out!
Get out now!
It's ramming us, it's ramming us.
A suspect doesn't need a gun or a knife
to be armed and dangerous.
It's rammed our vehicle.
Because in the wrong hands,
a two-tonne motor can be a deadly weapon.
We're being rammed, we're being rammed.
It's always in the back of your mind
that you have to deal with people trying to ram you.
Sometimes, they'll put it into reverse and try reverse ramming us.
Other times, they'll try knocking us off the road
as we're trying to do tactics, to resolve the pursuit.
Inherently, it is quite dangerous,
and sometimes it results in a car being off the road for a few weeks.
The main thing, as long as I get to go home
at the end of the day, I'm happy.
SIREN WAILS
It's dinner time on a Thursday...
Copy, mate. I'll come round to you.
..and Harrison is hungry for his next job...
'Confirm that vehicle's in the drive-through.'
..because tonight, the interceptors have unfinished business.
We had a vehicle yesterday that Leicestershire passed us,
saying it's a cloned Santa Fe bearing Irish plates.
Went after it last night,
and it disappeared into a sort of rural area
near Desborough, on the border.
We're going to go after it - we've got a few cars heading after it.
Interceptor Bertie is currently parked up
at a drive-through McDonald's,
where the suspect is buying his dinner.
It's a big old unit of a car, so we want to get as many cars near it
as possible and hopefully get some tactics on it authorised too.
Get it stopped, ideally, before it leaves the drive-through area.
When it comes to getting takeaways,
Harrison's got more of a taste for Chinese than Maccy D's.
He'll take a big duck over a Big Mac any day of the week.
He's in the McDonald's drive-through,
that side of the road at the minute, so...
But if there's a wrong 'un at the Golden Arches,
he'll happily pay them a visit.
Should be in there, he's at the last window at the minute.
Harrison must cross the carriageway sharpish
to give Bertie the back-up he needs.
Obviously, there is a risk if it's on cloned plates
that it may fail to stop,
so we'll see if we can get it whilst it's in the car park.
Fortunately for the interceptors,
tonight's fast food isn't living up to its name.
Still at the last window, it's got three occupants.
But with three people in the car,
Harrison has certainly got his plate full.
Do you want me to sit in the car park, Bert?
He's in the unmarked, so finds a quiet place to keep watch.
- RADIO BEEPS - What do you reckon, Bertie?
Try and get it to stopped before it leaves the car park?
'I don't know, it's difficult, isn't it?
'I suppose I could come in head-on if you pull up behind it.'
But before they can fully formulate a plan...
- It's just coming out now. - ..dinner is served.
In fact, it may be reverse parking.
It's reverse parking into a space.
With Mr Hyundai parked up, Harrison can easily make him
the filling in a sandwich.
But this fella is no McChicken.
CRASHING
Yeah, vehicle's trying to ram its way out at the minute. Stand by.
One running, parallel to the A14.
Having shunted Harrison's Volvo, the driver scarpered.
He's across the A14.
Can you get a dog to us, please?
And he's risked his life by legging it across the busy dual carriageway.
He's running across westbound at the minute.
IC1 male, grey tracksuit.
He's through a hedge at the minute.
I can't get across because there's traffic.
Back at the scene, Bertie has the Hyundai's two passengers in cuffs.
So Harrison must focus on the driver.
'Six-four, welfare?'
Yeah, I can't get across the road at the minute.
He's darted through a hedge. I can see where he's gone.
As soon as there's a safe break in traffic...
..he's out the blocks.
OK, I'm into the fields as well with him.
But has the daredevil runner had too much of a head start?
Is that drone going up, sorry?
If the suspect is lurking in the field,
a drone's thermal imaging camera
could light him up like a Christmas tree.
DRONE BUZZES
'Home point updated.'
You can see from the drone, this is where he's come over,
where my torch is.
There's no sign of the runner yet, but more resources are en route.
Hopefully, the dog can track him -
this is where we keep him in this area somewhere.
The dog unit is 15 minutes away, but with each second that passes,
the suspect slips further from their grasp.
With a roadblock in place, they decide to tap their final resource.
I ain't going to lose my life over chasing him across the carriageway,
so we've got a helicopter on the way,
and we've got a dog on the way, hence why I've just stopped here.
Hopefully, the dog can pick up a track.
First on the scene, though, is the chopper.
And now dog handler Brad's arrived with German shepherd Piper.
Anything past that trough or down the right-hand side not been done.
He came flying over this way.
- DOG BARKS - You was the one behind him?
Yeah, yeah.
It's now nearly half an hour
since the runner disappeared into the field.
The only thing I can think is
- if he's gone diving down the right. - Yeah.
But neither Piper's nose nor the two eyes in the sky
have managed to figure out which way he went.
Very frustrating.
Despite throwing multiple resources at the search...
Thank you, mate.
..on this occasion, the interceptors will have to settle
for an evening of mixed results.
It's still driveable,
the grill's fine, there's no damage to the lights.
At the end of the day, the car's there to do the job.
Essentially, we've stopped him failing to stop,
and clearly, in hindsight, he'd have took chase
and probably been dangerous.
If he's willing to ram police vehicles at that stage,
God knows what he'd do in an actual chase
with members of public on the road.
Hopefully, forensics on the vehicle will show who's driving.
So, fingers crossed.
Ramming a cop car is an act of sheer desperation,
and an interceptor never knows when a cornered criminal
might suddenly decide to lash out.
It's late on a Monday.
Chris and Callum reckon the Range Rover
they've just got behind could have dodgy plates.
They're in the marked car,
so decide to tail it and see if the driver reacts.
Not only is the manner of driving a bit suss,
but there's something else about this scenario
that's ringing alarm bells.
The Ford's pick-up plates also bear the hallmarks of a possible clone.
Having decided to follow the pick-up,
they sit back and hatch a plan.
We are an advanced TPAC driver in a suitable vehicle.
Vehicle is currently not failing to stop at the moment.
My thoughts are with the lack of TPAC at the moment,
for a boxing resolution.
We do a sting, a pre-emptive sting, and hand over to NPAS to take over.
The Ford pick-up weighs in at nearly two-and-a-half tonnes
and packs a heavyweight punch.
So the interceptors want to sting it to avoid a pursuit.
There's multiple occupants inside, unknown occupants,
unknown if they're armed.
But the nearest stinger unit is ten minutes away.
They're thinking about where to go, aren't they?
And now the boys are presented with a different challenge.
We're left, left now, we're into a McDonald's.
The driver has made a beeline for McDonald's,
so the interceptors fall in behind and hope he doesn't get spooked.
One-one, interestingly, he's now ordering food at the drive-through.
Dog handler Lucy is en route.
The new plan is to box him in
before he's even had a slurp on his milkshake.
One-one, what is the ETA for our next unit to this McDonald's?
The boys don't even order, so their intentions are now crystal clear.
They definitely know we're following them now.
Fortunately, Lucy is just a matter of seconds away.
Moving off from the drive-through now.
Coming out of the drive-through.
Pre-emptive reinforce stop, I think,
if you're happy with that, given the low speeds?
Although the pick-up is parked, he looks like he's kept his engine on.
He's in front of you. If you go on the long, we'll take the short.
Strike, strike, strike.
The interceptors pounce.
Reverse ram, reverse ram!
Reverse ram, vehicle has been rammed!
TYRES SCREECH
CRASHING
Stay where you are!
After being rammed, Chris leaps out to confront the driver,
and because the lad continues pounding into both cop cars,
Chris takes a hammer to the window to get him out.
Amid the chaos, a rear passenger escapes on foot.
- Show me your hands now! - Get out!
- Get out now! Get out! - All right, what do you want?
Get out now!
The threat of 50,000 volts works a charm.
On the floor!
You're under arrest on suspicion of criminal damage.
You don't have to say anything but it may harm your defence
if you do not mention when questioned
something you later rely on in court.
Anything you do say may be given in evidence.
- To the floor, to the floor now! - All right, one sec.
As well as the driver, a passenger has also been cuffed.
You're under arrest on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle.
You're also under arrest for failing to stop.
- Failing to stop? - Yes, mate, when we put the blue lights on,
and you try and drive off, that's failing to stop, isn't it?
That's three serious offences in as many minutes,
but Callum has saved the worst for last.
You forgot to pick up your McSpicy as well.
They asked you to park in bay one.
They should throw away the key for that one.
What's your current age?
Sixteen?
You are further under arrest for driving without a licence
and driving with no insurance, if you are 16, OK?
This young chap's got some serious questions to answer
back at the nick.
The cloned Hyundai that rammed Harrison earlier
was never claimed and was later crushed.
The passengers were released without charge, and for now,
the man who ran remains at large.
So too does the lad who ran from the pick-up.
However, the underage driver of the pick-up
got done for criminal damage,
driving without a licence and without insurance.
He got six points on his record, a £250 fine,
and a nine-month rehabilitation order.
Both him and his passenger
remain under investigation for the theft of the vehicle.
It's Friday evening,
and rolling out for the start of her night shift is dog handler Lucy.
We're just going for a vehicle that hit a ANPR camera on the A14,
and there's another officer behind it, driving a bit erratically,
so we're just all tipping out, see if we can get it stopped safely.
SIREN WAILS
The car has previously failed to stop for the cops,
plus it's got a marker for document offences.
Lucy is still two miles from the action.
Plus, on the A14, interceptor Max has just caught up.
In the marked car ahead of him,
Harrison Beverley is waiting for a moment to pounce.
Now Max is here, Harrison flicks on the blues.
As they approach the lay-by, it looks like it's job done.
But the bloke has bolted before,
so Max heads him off just to be safe.
Moments later, Lucy's on the scene.
Her partner this evening is cocker spaniel
and expert drug sniffer, Socks.
Just go and see if they want it searching.
DOG WHINES
The driver has admitted to being disqualified,
so is already in cuffs,
and the marker on his car is murky to say the least.
Hm... Counterfeit foreign documents. It's not really drugs, is it?
But probably worth searching it by hand, rather than the dog.
Sounds like the nose they'll be relying on tonight
will be the coppers' rather than the canine.
If we find anything drug-related, I'll put the dog in,
but the marker doesn't say anything about drugs.
Lucy goes in first...
- Baseball bat. - ..and pulls out some sporting goods.
There's a baseball bat down the side of the passenger seat.
He won't be hitting any home runs with it stuffed down there.
- There's flakes of cannabis. - It's everywhere, isn't it?
There's quite a lot in the back as well, like, flakes of it.
A few cannabis crumbs isn't exactly a big score.
- Lucy? - What you got?
But has Joe just knocked it out the park?
Oh, nice.
What's that? One bag containing one, two, three, four,
- five, six, around six individual bags. - OK.
- Shall we put the dog through, then? - Yeah.
Yeah, take that out.
Joe's just found some class A, so I'm gonna put Socks through.
He's no sniffer dog, but he's no ordinary Joe either.
So far, we've found roughly six individual deal bags
of a white powder, possibly cocaine.
So Lucy's gonna get the drugs dog out,
run the dog over the car, see what else we can find.
Seek, find.
If there's more drugs in the car, Socks will soon sniff them out.
Seek, find.
Meanwhile, interceptor Sandra
is after something even more unsavoury...
So, stick your tongue out for me.
..a sample of saliva from the driver.
So, this test is gonna take eight minutes.
I'll update my colleague while he's travelling to custody
if it comes up as positive, all right?
Back at the car...
- You happy? - I think so.
..Socks has had his nose over every inch of the interior.
The other officer has obviously found the six wraps
of what we think is probably cocaine.
Socks hasn't found anything in addition to that yet,
and the driver is obviously disqualified as well,
so it's a good stop in the end.
There's no more dodgy parcels here, so Lucy calls it.
Yeah, I think that's it, mate, to be honest.
But eight minutes have now passed since the drug wipe,
which means the results are in.
He was swerving when he was driving
and speeding up from 100 to 60 and 50, and back up to 100.
We put him on a drugs wipe,
and he's tested positive for cannabis and for cocaine,
so we'll go to custody, disqualified and drug driving, probably.
So, yeah, quite happy.
The fella wasn't charged with possession of class A,
but he did plead guilty to driving whilst disqualified
and without insurance.
He was ordered to pay £200 and was banned from driving for 14 months.
He was also charged with drug driving,
but the case was later dropped at court.
Still to come...
Your brake light's not working.
..a roadside MOT...
- So, you've got no headlights. - ..that fails to illuminate.
There's quite a lot of issues with this, isn't there?
It's lunchtime...
NG from one-four for a code two vehicle check.
..and Joe Wood is having a nibble on a suspicious Vauxhall.
This vehicle in front, silver Vauxhall Astra,
is in quite a poor state of repair.
I think it's supposed to be silver/grey,
but it's covered in mud.
Cops have learned that drivers who don't maintain their cars
often don't maintain their insurance premiums either.
I'm pretty sure, as well, that from the Motor Insurance Bureau,
Astras are statistically one of the most uninsured vehicles.
This one has come back on PNC as insured, documents in order.
However, we'll put a stop on it,
see who's driving it and make sure everything's OK.
Blues, twos and the copper's finger have the desired effect.
- Hi there. How you doing, all right? - Yeah, you?
Yeah, not too bad. Just a routine stop
to make sure everything's in order with the vehicle.
What insurance have you got to drive the vehicle?
I've run out of data, so I borrowed this off...
The bloke says the beaten-up Astra belongs to his boss,
who's insured him to drive it for 24 hours.
Joe has his doubts.
Potential insurance issue,
they're saying that the keeper put a day policy on it earlier on,
so we'll see if we can get evidence of that.
If not, it'll be coming with us.
It doesn't take long to establish three things...
- Right. - ..Joe's suspicions are bang on...
I don't think you've got any insurance for this.
..this guy's walking home...
One-four, could I organise one-six-five recovery
for no insurance?
..and the Astra's status as one of the country's
most uninsured cars remains intact.
If the boss turns up and goes,
"Here's the policy, look, and it's all legit,"
- then we can just discount this. - Yeah.
- Enter a new player, stage left. - Who are you, then? Are you the...?
- I'm the registered insurer. - You're the registered keeper?
So, what's the reason for Mica driving the vehicle?
- Just borrowing it to go home. - Right, OK.
I was getting him on the insurance, I was on the phone to them.
The boss says he was just getting around to sorting the insurance,
but, you know, admin issues.
An excuse which won't cut any ice with Joe.
You'll be reported for driving without insurance,
and you'll be reported for causing
and permitting Mica to drive without insurance.
But it's not all bad news for the boss.
- You're insured on this, aren't you? - Yes, yeah, yeah.
Right, OK, so given that you're now here.
- Yeah. - I don't need to take this vehicle away any more.
I can let you take it, but you will be getting reported as well, OK?
- Right, yeah. - The pair are free to go.
- Right, cheers, then. - Thank you.
Another statistic in the tale of one of Britain's most uninsured cars.
We said earlier on about the amount of these that are uninsured.
That just came true, didn't it?
And no sooner is Joe back on the dual carriageway...
- Can I get a code two, please? - ..than he gets a second chance
to road test the stats at the Motor Insurance Bureau.
There's an Astra in lane two, looked a bit quick, sitting around 80.
Added to that, there's a light out at the back.
And once Joe overtakes, the front's not much better.
And I can see there's a light out in the front, so just worth a check.
The interceptor lights his "follow me" sign
and leads the Astra off the dual carriageway into a lay-by.
How you doing, all right?
The reason I stopped you in the first place was your speed.
I didn't go over 80. 70, 75, I reckon.
I'm not gonna give you a ticket for that.
But the vehicle, then, whose is it?
It's my vehicle, I've got insurance certificate and sheet.
- You wanna see it? - Yeah, go for it, if you've got documents.
It looks like this Astra won't bolster the uninsured statistics...
- Perfect. - ..but it is a bit of a wreck.
You've got a nearside light out, and you've got...
your offside brake light's not working.
- So you've got no headlights. - Doesn't get drove at night.
- OK. And is there any main beam? - Yeah.
Just the one side, naturally.
So you've got main beam on that side, but no headlights. Right.
They are getting done today.
I think you are, too.
There's quite a lot of issues with this, isn't there?
It looks like a PG9 job, prohibiting the car from public roads.
The vehicle's gonna have a prohibition put on it,
which means you can't drive the vehicle any more.
But the driver has one bit of luck on his side.
Because it's daytime,
he's going to get away without the car being seized.
Yeah, I'll get it all done today.
But when Joe has a closer look, there's exposed metal on the mirror.
You clip a cyclist,
rather than a nice bit of curved plastic hitting them,
- you've got this metal hitting them. - Yeah, I appreciate that.
And under the bonnet...
- There's no strap on that either. - ..the battery's not secure.
You've got a few issues going on here, ain't you?
It's a bag of shit, but it's a workhorse.
Ah, it's a workhorse, which brings another problem.
You're using it in your role as a handyman,
- so for that, you need business insurance. - OK.
Which you haven't got.
- I'm not gonna seize it, cos you have got insurance. - Thank you.
I'm gonna let you continue your journey
and hope that you get all these things fixed.
Yeah, 100%, today.
However, I'm going to report you for the offences, OK?
- That's fine, I appreciate that. - So expect something in the post.
Yeah. So, basically, the vehicle's a bag of shit
and needs to come off the road, mate, that's what we're saying.
- It's your words! - I agree!
The Astra driver stopped earlier was guilty of driving without insurance.
He got six points and fines and charges totalling £258.
The owner, who allowed him to drive,
received six points and fines of more than £800.
The guy who was light on lights
was convicted of driving a car in a dangerous condition
and without valid business insurance.
He also received six points and fines totalling £280.
- Put your seatbelt on! - I am!
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