Scores of lorries, trucks, bikes and cars making their way to and from Felixstowe were today pulled in for a large scale vehicle check involving multi-agencies, led by Suffolk police.

Officers from the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency, Driver & Vehicle Licencing Agency, Suffolk Trading Standards, Environmental Protection, Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) and Marston's civil debt collectors, were assembled to deal with the range activities uncovered by Suffolk police officers along the A14 and A12.

Then, under the banner of Operation Alliance, officers from the Roads and Armed Policing Team, Road Casualty Reduction Team, Commercial Vehicle Unit, Police Dog Unit and Safety Camera Team, swarmed the area, to make the initial stops then escort suspect vehicles to the centre.

Nub News was invited along to the huge check site, close to the petrol station at Copdock Mill retail area and witnessed HGV, trucks with trailers and vans being brought in and thoroughly checked in a methodical and professional way by the various professionals.

Inspector Gary Miller, of the Suffolk roads and armed policing team, ran Operation Alliance and told Nub News: "We are targeting road safety, vehicle condition, commercial vehicles and road based criminality.

"We have a number of agencies here because they have different powers, experience and knowledge than the police.

"It is a great opportunity for us all to be together on one site because we can look at people who are criminally active in our country or vehicles that are dangerous on our roads, or people who are generally are not paying attention to what they are doing."

Police motorcyclists along with colleagues in other vehicles used automatic vehicle number plate recognition, other intelligence gathering and their good old fashioned, experienced nose for something wrong, to bring in suspect vehicles.

"Officers will been those routes picking off those who have activated the ANPR," said Insp Miller. "The beauty of experienced roads policing and local officers is they will look at a car or the occupants inside and think 'there is something not quite right there'.

"They can also look at vehicle and know there is something wrong so they can bring it back here where we have the police vehicle examiners and from driver licensing agency who can examine it in more difficult.

"It can be quite difficult with some vehicles to stop then on our roads in Suffolk due to their size, and then get under them and look in detail, so we can bring them here in a safe and sterile environment and look at them in details.

"We can check their roadworthiness, tachograph and weight. We can find commercial drivers who may have gone past their hours."

Suffolk police ave also recently introduced a specialist commercial vehicle unit, led by Insp Miller.

"The CVU have better knowledge of commercial vehicle legislation and experience, ideal for this scenario," he said.

"These are the sort of days that are enjoyable because we can bring together multiple agencies and skills together in one place."

Given the sheer amount of traffic heading to and from Felixstowe, it is understandable the police resources are often focused on that stretch of A14 and A12.

Insp Miller said: "There is a lot of traffic coming to and from the port on a daily basis and so there is some good enforcement opportunities.

"We are also looking at organised criminality, people trafficking, people using commercial vehicles to bring in illegal good, drugs that sort of thing.

"Because that port is in our area we have a responsibility to look at this things and stop them going to other parts of the county."

While the authorities are also happy to uncover a major crime during these checks, Insp Miller underlined the importance of picking up on the relatively mundane issues

He said: "Those minor offence can quite often lead to something more significant, for example a worn tyre on a frosty day like this, they may have to brake hard and the tyre does have the grip they pile in to someone else and cause massive disruption on the A14 and that has a significance on the local economy. Those small offences have a big impact when something goes wrong.

"We also hope on day like this, with the volume of vehicles we are bringing in, it could lead to something very significant."

The drivers Nub News being brought to the area for a more in-depth being patent and Insp Miller understands the frustration but believes the public are understanding.

He added: "Generally the reaction is good. People are respectful of what we are doing.

"We will also get those people who what we are doing doesn't fit in with their plans for the day or are not happy about what they are being stopped for. All our officers are highly experienced and professional and will deliver it in an appropriate way.

"It is all about delivering that road safety message, and reducing criminality on the road - which we don't apologise for.

"A HGV breaks down because it is in poor condition, or the driver is not paying attention because they are tired and that can cause a crash which can close the A14 for example, for four, five six, seven or eight hours and the impact that has the Suffolk public is significant, which is why we run these days and target those offences."

Suffolk's multi-agency check at Copdock was the second part of a four-day operation, with Cambridgeshire targeted yesterday and Essex tomorrow.

Operation Alliance, Suffolk Police officers will be assisted by Specialist Operations colleagues from across the Seven Force Collaboration area (7F), which includes Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Norfolk.

UPDATE: Crackdown yields great results