Officers from Police Scotland teamed up with partner agencies including HMRC, Renfrewshire Trading Standards and Driver Vehicle Standards Agency in an attempt to curb door to door unlicensed trades persons and bogus callers.
Last week, 12th and 13th May 2016 the joint partner initiative saw officers from the Divisional Roads Policing Unit and representatives from partner agencies carryout road traffic checks at various locations across the Paisley area.
All drivers and passengers were spoken to by HMRC and Trading Standards to ascertain details of their trades and employment status.
Ninety one commercial/light goods vehicles were stopped over the two days, eighteen vehicles were issued prohibition notices due to mechanical faults with six vehicles found to be in such a dangerous condition they were immediately prohibited from the road.
A number of road traffic fixed penalty tickets and Vehicle Defect Rectification Scheme tickets were also issued to drivers for defects found in brakes, lights and mirrors.
Six drivers were reported to the Procurator Fiscal for offences including their vehicles carrying excess weight, having no business insurance, no vehicle insurance and driving licence offences.
Sergeant Brian Nesbitt of the Paisley Community Policing Team, who planned the joint partner initiative said: “The joint operation was designed to target, deter and detect individuals and groups involved in bogus caller activities.
“Police Scotland works closely with partner agencies to enforce legislation, targeting those who may take advantage of vulnerable members of society such as the elderly by their use of vehicles in their criminality.
“Enforcement initiatives are ongoing with well-publicised campaigns, but our findings over the two planned days of action last week show that persons are still utilising vehicles that are considered dangerous for use on public roads, being driven overloaded and with person’s engaging in licenced trades without obtaining and holding an appropriate licence to do so.
“Police Scotland officers will continue to work with partner agencies to detect and deter individuals and groups involved in bogus caller activities to help make communities a safer place for all.”