Operation Crush

Officers from GMP's newly formed Road Crime Unit have interrupted a large-scale nationwide motoring scam.

This morning, Tuesday 25 May 2010, officers executed 11 warrants at addresses in Tameside and Gorton and arrested two men, aged 39.

Computers and police documentation were also recovered.

Today's operation is aimed at targeting those behind a national motoring scam.

The scam centres on people who have avoided convictions for motoring offences ? including bans - by making false nominations, or causing false information to be provided to police on their behalf.

It is estimated the hundreds of motorists have avoided about 2,000 penalty points being endorsed on to licenses with £40,000 in fines remaining unpaid.

566 false nominations have come from within the Greater Manchester area with a further 70 false nominations being detected in 21 other force areas.

A total of 636 false nominations were submitted between 31 August 2006 and 2 April 2010.

Officers will now be contacting hundreds of motorists up and down the country who have taken part in the scam.

Members of GMP's newest unit, the Road Crime Unit, as well as officers from the Road Policing Unit, Tactical Aid Unit and Neighbourhood Policing Teams were involved in this mornings operation along with assistance from the Dog Unit and Crime Scene Investigators.

Sergeant Mark Beales, who heads up the Road Crime Unit, said: "This scam has spread the length and breadth of the country and had we not taken the decisive action we have done today, and will be doing in the coming weeks, it could have massively undermined the road safety system.

"Some motorists have been driving without fear of prosecution and with absolutely no regard for the rules of the road. Today it stops.

"Driving laws are not in place to penalise drivers. They are intended to ensure the safety of motorists and pedestrians and must be upheld.

"This investigation is at a very early stage and we will be working extremely hard to ensure the culprits responsible, both for the scam and for taking advantage of it, are held accountable."