Multi-Agency Operation Targets Waste Crime and Vehicle Offences in Blackpool

A successful multi-agency enforcement operation in Blackpool is helping to tackle waste crime, unsafe vehicles and wider environmental offences as partners work together to keep the town safe and clean.

Led by the Environmental Protection team at Blackpool Council, the initiative, known as Operation Haven, brings together officers from Enveco NW, Police, Licensing teams, and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

The operation took place four times at a key gateway into the town on Yeadon Way, where Police have the authority to safely stop passing vehicles. From there, each agency carries out checks relating to its area of expertise, ensuring drivers, vehicles and businesses operating in Blackpool are compliant with the law.

During the operation, Environmental Protection officers and Enveco NW staff conduct checks on waste carriers, ensuring they hold the correct documentation, such as waste transfer notes. This helps identify illegal waste activity and reduces the risk of fly-tipping across the borough.

Meanwhile, police officers carry out drink and drug driving tests and check vehicles for insurance, tax and licensing offences. DVSA inspectors assess larger vehicles such as goods wagons to ensure they meet safety and compliance standards.

Across four action days, officers have stopped and checked 259 vehicles, including:

  • 117 taxis and private hire vehicles
  • 22 light goods vehicles (LGVs)
  • 8 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs)
  • A range of transit vans and cars

The operation recorded 71 offences, resulting in:

  • 3 arrests
  • 6 vehicles seized (including 3 linked to waste carriers)

Offences detected included overweight vehicles, bald tyres, driving without a licence, insurance or tax, and driving while impaired by drink or drugs.

In addition, more than 52 drivers received advice about waste carrier paperwork, helping improve compliance and prevent environmental crime. Eight fixed penalty notices were issued by Enveco NW officers relating to waste offences.

During one stop, officers also intercepted two vehicles arriving from Romania carrying prescription drugs and unregulated food products, all of which were seized.

Separate partnership work between Environmental Protection, parking services and the Police has also seen 40 vehicles seized to date under DVLA enforcement activity. Officers have removed 30 vehicles under Section 99 powers, and, working with highways partners, 12 caravans have also been removed from the highway.

In a further development, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are now authorised to issue Section 99 removals and Section 59 warnings, powers that allow vehicles causing alarm, distress or annoyance to be stopped, seized and removed. This has already helped tackle vehicles being dumped or stored on residential streets by local garages.

Enveco’s Street Cleansing Operations Manager Craig Burns said:
“Illegal waste activity often leads directly to fly-tipping, which damages communities and costs resident’s money to clean up. By checking waste carriers and providing advice about the correct paperwork, we’re helping ensure waste is handled responsibly and preventing environmental crime before it happens.”

Watch the full interview with one of Enveco NEAT officers, Police and Environmental Protection: joint operation on a very wet October day in Blackpool, HERE.