BURNLEY road tax dodgers have been targeted as part of a clamp down by the police.

The special two-day operation, which started yesterday and continued today, was focused on the Rosehill, Lanehead, Trinity and Duke Bar areas of the town.

Vehicles known to be causing specific problems for the police and local residents were the main target of the sting but PC Janet Eaves, community beat manager for Lanehead, said a couple were found and dealt with during the operation.

At the end of the first day eight cars had been towed away and 10 had been clamped.

PC Eaves said one of those was known to have been used in criminal activity in the area.

She said: "The community beat managers involved and the police community support officers have been gathering information from local residents about cars that do not have any tax. We do get quite a lot of complaints from people about the issue."

She added: "Previous clamp-downs have proved extremely worthwhile and received widespread public support and recognition from law-abiding members of the community who are fed up with those flouting the law.

"This operation has proved to be equally successful and it is definitely something we shall be doing again in the future."

Once a car is clamped the owner has 24 hours to pay £200 to free the car, of which £120 will be returned if the vehicle is taxed within two weeks.

The information was gathered and the operation carried out by Burnley East community beat managers PC Eaves and PC Ian Thompson and police community support officers Dave Johnson, Cathy Clough and Sian George.

Similar operations are to be carried out in other areas of Burnley in the future.