Five vehicles were seized and dozens of drivers pulled over during a week-long police operation conducted from the cab of a police HGV.
Officers from Nottinghamshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit joined neighbouring forces in conducting proactive patrols along the M1.
Using the lorry’s elevated position to keep a watchful eye on the traffic below, the team stopped 78 vehicles and dealt with 72 separate offences between Monday 31 March and Friday 4 April.
Seven drivers were caught speeding, 21 were using mobile phones and a further 37 people were found not to be wearing seatbelts.
Other offences detected included insecure loads, driving without due care and attention, driving with no insurance and driving defective or dangerous vehicles.
One suspect was also arrested on suspicion of drug driving after coming to officers’ attention for the manner of his driving.
In total five vehicles were also seized.
The regular Operation Tramline uses a lorry cab owned and operated by National Highways to spot and film offences from above.
Officers following safely behind are then alerted in order to pull vehicles over as required.
PC Mike Grant, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Road s Policing Unit, said:
“As with all roads policing operations, the aim of the initiative was to reduce the number of people who are needlessly killed or seriously injured on the roads each year.
“So, this operation and others like it are not about catching drivers out – they are about changing drivers’ attitudes and intervening early to prevent incidents before they happen.
“For example, there really is no excuse in 2025 for people driving along without seatbelts on, or for people talking or texting on handheld phones as they are going along.
“We cannot and will not allow people to get away with that and will always take action when we see it.
“However, it is also important to stress that the vast majority of motorists we saw during this operation were driving safely and in full accordance with the law, which is always reassuring to see.”
