Three infants were found by police in a 'dangerous' car during a road safety operation to try and cut down the number of offences on the roads.

Roads Policing Officers from Cleveland Police made the shocking discovery while taking part in Operation Tramline, a partnership between police and National Highways.

Police used a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) cab loaned from National Highways to make it easier to see offences committed in the cabs of other lorries and vehicles at the same height, as well as identifying offences in other types of vehicles.

Within the operation, three children under the age of three were found travelling without appropriate child restraints.

Police vehicles involved in another policing operation earlier this yearPolice vehicles involved in another policing operation earlier this year (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE) In total, 38 vehicles were stopped by the Matrix Team officers during the operation between Monday, October 7 and Friday, October 11, and 43 offences were logged, according to the police.

These offences included three children without appropriate seat restraints, using a mobile phone whilst driving, not wearing a seatbelt, speeding and an insecure load.

Two people were summonsed to court and a further 40 drivers were issued with fixed penalties or Traffic Offence Reports.

Matrix Team Sergeant Mark Kewley, said: “Keeping people safe on our roads is our priority in road policing and during this operation, we have found 43 offences being committed by drivers on our roads.

A vehicle that had an unsecured load during the policing operationA vehicle that had an unsecured load during the policing operation (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE) “Staggeringly, there were three young children who were not properly restrained and had the vehicles they were in been involved in a collision, there could have been devastating consequences.

“We also stopped a driver who was travelling with a very dangerous, insecure load on one of our main arterial routes, which wasn’t strapped down properly and could have potentially caused a serious collision.

“These examples show why we carry out these operations; we’re determined to help reduce casualties and fatalities on our roads and through operations like this one, in conjunction with National Highways, we can ensure that people are abiding by the laws put in place for everyone’s safety.”

Recommended reading: 

Get more content including the stories that matter to your community from The Northern Echo for just £5 for 5 month for a limited time only here.

National Highways Mark Cartwright, Head of Commercial Vehicle Incident Prevention, added: “We know that not wearing seatbelts and distracted driving are key contributors in several incidents resulting in people being seriously injured or even killed on our roads.  

“Working with our police partners we want to make people think again about their driving behaviours and the risks to themselves and other road users.

“Road safety is, and will always be, our number one priority.  Our road users play an active role in road safety through the way they drive on our roads and are key to helping us achieve a safer network for everyone.”