The importance of reporting suspicious vehicles and the results achieved across Eden

We received a phone call on the morning of the 14 September, regarding a suspicious vehicle driving around housing estates in Appleby. The report was that the occupants of the vehicle were looking for scrap metal.

The caller gave us the registration, this enabled us to do various background checks on the vehicle and the registered keeper. We were able to get the driver's details and see any previous reports regarding this vehicle. These checks included checking their scrap licence. it was identified that they did not have a scrap licence for the area.

Following the report, we undertook enquiries to locate the vehicle, but we did not find it in the area and no further reports we received. We have passed the information on to our community wardens regarding them not having a scrap licence for Eden. We have also added the vehicle to the ANPR hotlist.

Our officers stopped a vehicle full of scrap when out on patrol in Alston.

This vehicle was known to us due to previous intelligence provided to us by the public.

The driver was found to be wearing no seatbelt and they had no scrap licence for Eden.