A HIGH-tech campaign to rid Pendle of nuisance cars has netted 287 offenders and taken 100 vehicles off the streets.

Operation Peregrine was designed to remove untaxed, unregistered, uninsured cars used for anti-social behaviour and crime.

The Pendle Community Safety Partnership (CSP) joined forces with the DVLA, council, police, fire service, and the public, during August to identify untaxed, or abandoned, vehicles and take a variety of enforcement action, including fines and clamping.

During the two weeks of the latest operation, 100 vehicles were impounded, a further 187 fines issued, and a vehicle stolen from outside the county was returned to its owner.

PC Karen Fitzpatrick, of the CSP, said: "We combine new technology with good old-fashioned legwork and community pride.

"We have a variety of people on the lookout for untaxed vehicles by looking at the tax disc, and by using Automatic Number Plate Recognition.

"It's amazing the number of people who come up to us on the streets and thank us for dealing with vehicles in this way. These vehicles blight communities and are often used in criminal activity."

Fire service Station Commander Nick Isherwood, also of the CSP, added: "Vehicle arson throughout the UK is rife and, on average, costs around £5,100 per car, that's around half-a-million pounds in Pendle each year alone. The timely removal of just one vehicle -- potential fuel for the arsonist -- justifies on its own a campaign of this nature.

"The vehicles we target are the ones that regularly block the way for fire engines, often end up in serious road accidents, but far more frequently are set alight, either in the middle of a community affecting the residents, or in the middle of beauty spots such as Barley and Wycoller, where visitors to the area have to contend with these unsightly masses of rusting twisted metal."