DORSET Police took part in a joint operation to try and crack down on traffic offences around the Dorset and Devon border.

They were working with Devon and Cornwall Police, Customs and Excise and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to inspect vehicles.

The operation took place at Hunter’s Lodge on the A35 on Monday.

In total, around 50 vehicles were inspected across the morning and several fines and orders were imposed.

Two tickets were issued by police to drivers using a mobile phone, one ticket was issued for a vehicle with no MOT and four immediate prohibitions were issued by the DVSA to for dangerous vehicles.

The vehicle with no MOT received a £100 fixed penalty notice.

Immediate prohibitions mean that the vehicle cannot be driven until the fault with the car is rectified.

On top of this, one driver was fined £560 by Customs and Excise for using red diesel in his vehicle on the road.

Red diesel is a fuel generally only allowed for vehicles which do not travel on public roads at all and is generally used in farm vehicles.

In this incident, a commercial vehicle not involved in the farming industry was caught using the fuel.

The vehicle will now be investigated by Customs and Excise to see if they have avoided paying further excise in the past.

PC Kirsti Ball, Lyme Regis Safer Neighbourhood beat officer, was part of the operation and explained what the motivation behind it was.

She said: “It was basically just a joint operation because there is so much traffic travelling between Devon and Dorset so we decided to do this and gather some intelligence.

“We wanted local people to see a visible police presence." We wanted drivers to see that we are trying to do our thing.”

The junction on the A35 at Hunter’s Lodge has become notorious for accidents but PC Ball said that the operation was to deal with traffic offences rather than road safety problems.

She was happy with the results of the operation.

“It was more for traffic offences. We had some good results from it and we want to do one in the future as well. It was a good day,” PC Ball said.