ESSEX police issued fines and a seized a Range Rover as part of a vehicle check exercise earlier this week at Boreham services.

Police checked 17 heavy goods vehicles, ten vans and eight cars.

A Range Rover was seized after the driver was found to be driving on a provisional licence, and a German truck driver was fined £300 after officers were alerted that he had failed to pay the £10 foreign vehicle levy.

Several further vehicles were found to be overweight, with fines for those offences totalling £1,200.

A UK registered truck driver was forced to take an 11 hour rest period after a check revealed he had failed to record three hours of his driving time on his tachograph chart. His fines totalled £600 and his steering wheel was clamped.

Pc Al Cuthbertson said: "One of the important road safety measures we promote is issuing free Fresnel lenses to left hand drive HGVs, which greatly improve drivers rear vision and help to avoid blind spots.

“There is no charge for these items but without doubt the benefits from them far outweigh the initial cost and make our roads safer."