Operation Tramline, developed in partnership with Highways England, involves a HGV crewed by a police driver and an officer with a video camera to catch dangerous, anti-social or distracted drivers in the act.

The Operation, which ran for 12 days in early August saw 137 vehicles stopped for a total of 140 offences, including 79 for using a mobile phone, six for driving without due care, and 23 for not being in proper control.

Included were: one driver eating from a container in one hand with a fork in the other; someone reading a broadsheet paper across the steering wheel; and a taxi driver writing notes in a notebook in the outside lane of the M25.

A total of 148 interventions were made ranging from words of advice for minor offences, to Fixed Penalty Notices and summons to court for serious violations, including mobile phone use.

Sergeant Sharon Kingston from the Roads Policing Unit who coordinated the operation said: “Poor driver behaviour leads to people losing their lives and for many it seems driving is still secondary to other activities, but if a driver is not paying attention it can have fatal consequences.

“Footage captured during the operation shows dangerous, anti-social and distracted driving is still all too prevalent and we’ve seen examples over the last 18 months of lives lost because a driver has not had their full attention on the road. Many will remember the horrifying

“Many will remember the horrifying dashcam footage capturing the moment a woman and her three children were killed by a lorry driver ploughing into their stationary care while scrolling through music on his mobile phone on the A34 in August 2016. The driver was jailed for 10 years.

“Incidents like these leave such a devastating impact on innocent people, which is why we will continue to target drivers who chose to disregard the safety of others.

“First trialed in 2014, Op Tramline is an ongoing campaign coordinated by Highways England, working with police forces across the country with the joint aim of reducing the number of incidents and casualties on our roads. Surrey Police run these partnership operations regularly and we are very grateful to Highways England for their support.”

Anthony Thorpe, Incident Prevention Assistant Project Manager from Highways England added: “We are delighted that 28 police forces across England and Wales are involved in Operation Tramline to lessen incidents on our roads. Together, we have stopped in excess of 4,000 vehicles for 5,039 offences and made 5,207 interventions in two years.”