A man was arrested and six cars were seized during a police operation in Braintree today.

Officers from the Essex Police Casualty Reduction Section and other roads policing officers used automatic number plate recognition technology as part of Operation Surround A Town, the long-running countywide campaign with Essex County Council to increase road safety and to detect offenders using the roads.

Motorcycles and cars were used to intercept vehicles which were taken to a stop-check site near Galleys Corner where other officers carried out investigations into drivers and driving documents.

Six vehicles were seized after officers found that drivers were not insured or did not have valid driving licences.

Fifteen vehicles were found to have invalid MOTs, 20 people were stopped for using a mobile phone at the wheel and 11 drivers were not wearing seatbelts.

A 21-year-old man from Suffolk was arrested after officers stopped a car believed to be travelling on false number plates.

The man, who was arrested on suspicion of a £5,000 theft in Essex, remains in custody this evening.

Officers involved in the operation were also called to assist at road crashes near Galleys Corner and at School Road, Rayne.