Inside the action: Cumbria police's new road unit cracks down on crime

Sitting in an unmarked police car with Inspector Jack Stabler and PC Simon Brockbank, we were able to witness high-speed approaches to drivers suspected of offences like drink driving, not wearing a seatbelt, and using a mobile phone.

Stabler (right) and Brockbank, not posing by the unmarked car we used so they don't give anything away (Image: Ollie Rawlinson)

The idea for this unit is to actively seek crime on the roads, enabling them to act against it more effectively.

The officers were cleverly using various vantage points on our roads, which saw us go around Carlisle city centre, the outskirts, and into Penrith.

They drove to a favoured spot off London Road that gives them an elevated view into people’s cars.

Waiting at the London Road vantage point (Image: Ollie Rawlinson)

“London Road, Wigton Road, and Warwick Road, you get a lot of queues, and a lot of people therefore thinking it’s safe to use their phones, texting people or checking social media,” PC Brockbank explained as we awaited a suspect.

He added: “The law changed recently to using a handheld phone while driving, for any reason.

“Even people that are using a phone on speaker, but if it’s in a cradle (mounted to the windscreen for example) you’re okay.

“Driving doesn’t mean to be moving, you can be at a red light, stationary, and you can still be stopped.

“This morning we stopped a woman in Penrith for using a mobile phone, then we found out she was not insured,” added Insp Stabler. The woman also happened to be missing a rear window.

These stops often uncover further crimes – where they may stop someone for having a faulty light, they could then uncover other issues, like the driver being over the alcohol limit, or there being drugs and weapons in the car, or simply not having a license.

“In the last 24 hours we caught an additional six drug drivers in Cumbria,” Insp Stabler added.

Soon after, we were off with haste, following a van driver suspected of being on his phone and not wearing a seatbelt.

He was followed down and we weaved in and out of busy London Road traffic with the siren and lights on, until he pulled into St Nicholas Gate car park and was spoken to by the duo.

His address was taken so a letter, giving him three options, could be sent.

These options are:

• Attend a self-funded educational course – likely around £100 – and avoid any points on your license.
• Pay a £250 fine and get six points on your license – but avoid the course.
• Go to court to argue your case, but if you’re found guilty you would probably get more points, a bigger fine, and maybe worse.

PC Brockbank told me the driver had six points on his license already and was reported for using his phone while driving, and for not wearing a seatbelt.

Insp Stabler told me more about what Cumbria Police are concerned with.

“We get a lot of people calling in to complain about electric scooters.

“What we’re saying is, Christmas is coming up, and parents are likely to buy an electric scooter for their kids, but if you’re going to, they need private land to use them.”

It’s illegal to drive them in any public area in Cumbria.

You see them in cities that are government trial areas, which means they’re testing the waters to see how they’d work as alternative public transport, but there are no such places in Cumbria presently, meaning that every electric scooter user you see in Cumbria in public is breaking the law.

We were on the lookout for e-scooter users as well.

PC Brockbank added: "The public complain we just give tickets out and that’s all we do, but you get criminals using these roads, and if you can deny a criminal’s use of the roads, this deters the crime.”

The officers quickly made it to another vantage point on the B5307, on the lookout for the samecrimes, however a call about a suspected drink driver coming in at 12.13pm saw them race to the A595.

The suspect was driving a white Ford Transit, heading into the city from West Cumbria.

We waited on the road to find him, then sped after him before he was eventually stopped.

He was swerving in the road and braking inappropriately, but he was sober.

PC Brockbank chats to the driver, while Inspector Stabler checks the tyres (Image: Ollie Rawlinson)

Instead, he admitted being distracted by his sat-nav which was too close to his steering wheel, so was reported for driving without due care, and given those same three options.

From the call to the stop, it took around 12 minutes.

We then took to the M6 around Carlisle, this time looking for more phone misuse, and we tailed a few suspect lorries, but upon a further look, there was nothing improper about them.

We continued down to Penrith while PC Brockbank told me another concern for them is lane hogging in the middle lane, which is also illegal.

Once in Penrith, we parked in the middle of the Kemplay Bank Roundabout looking for more phone users and seatbelt eschewers.

While waiting, I asked the two officers of any recent standout incident they have been involved in. 

PC Brockbank told me of a high-speed police chase through Carlisle a few weeks ago which they had to abandon due to the risk to the public.

The driver was trying to avoid arrest, speeding, running red lights, and driving on the wrong side of the road, endangering everyone and himself, but thankfully no one was hurt.

Upon further investigation via public appeals for dashcam footage, they found the driver, aged just 16, who was taken to court and convicted of dangerous driving, two counts of driving without insurance, and two counts of disqualified driving.

He was handed a 10-month youth detention order as a result.

Insp Stabler told me a harrowing story of a drink driver – David Logan - on Father’s Day, who mounted a pavement in Dalton at speed and killed three people – a dad and his two children - and a dog.

This was the moment that galvanised his no-tolerance approach to drink driving, he said.

Soon after, Police spotted a DPD delivery driver using his phone in his hand while driving, and we drove up to him and took a photo of him doing it, for proof.

They stopped him down the road at around 1.25pm and PC Brockbank said he initially denied doing it, pointing to his phone which was then in its cradle, but when he was shown the photo, he came clean.

He will be sent the letter.

Stabler and Brockbank chat to the DPD driver (Image: Ollie Rawlinson)

I was driven back to Carlisle, while over the police phone, we heard that the DVSA, who was sat with a road policing officer – a new approach – found a man suspected of drug driving at around 1.45pm.

A busy day, but not for them, who both told me there is no standard day where they’ll get any number of stops.

But ultimately this was a chance to see the new RPU at work, and an insight into how Cumbria Police tackle crime prevention, act against suspected offenders, and shows the face of crime on our expansive roads.

This intelligence-led and robust approach to road policing is a powerful deterrent to would-be offenders behind the wheel.