The unmarked HGV that catches hundreds of dangerous drivers across Surrey each month
Over the last decade, an unmarked HGV, secretly being driven by police officers, has been driving on motorways and A-roads across Surrey, catching hundreds of drivers committing offenses each month, just when they don't think that "they're being watched". In just one month alone, Surrey RoadSafe has reported that this operation recorded drivers in Surrey committing nearly 400 offenses. Named Operation Tramline, as part of it's tenth birthday, Surrey RoadSafe spoke with Sergeant Dan Pascoe, who heads up Surrey Police's Vanguard Road Safety Team and leads Op Tramline for both Surrey and Sussex.
In partnership with National Highways, this country-wide initiative uses an unmarked HGV to catch drivers committing dangerous and illegal acts on our motorways and A-roads. Sergeant Dan Pascoe, who stated that he has been involved in the operation "from the start", reflected on his experiences on the roads over the past decade. He told Surrey RoadSafe: "Op Tramline is a National Highways initiative using an unmarked HGV to catch distracted drivers -- like those using mobile phones or failing to wear seatbelts.
I've been involved from the start -- first in an unmarked car and now leading the operation in Surrey and Sussex." The road safety partnership continued, asking which offenses he believes they catch most often. With Sgt Pascoe responding: "Mobile phone use is still far too common.
Numbers have dropped overall, especially among commercial drivers, but it's nowhere near enough. The excuses we hear range from 'just checking directions' to joining a Teams meeting while driving." According to data from earlier this year[1], the Surrey area which recorded the most amount of dangerous driving offences was Runnymede, where for every 100,000 people over the legal driving age, there were 50 offences - the equivalent of one dangerous driving crime for every 2,002 people.
Guildford[2] had Surrey's second-highest rate of dangerous driving offences over the last three years, with 45 per 100,000 people, and Spelthorne was third (45 per 100,000 people). When asked why he thinks the HGV is such an effective method of catching offenders, as well as if anything more can be done, the Sergeant said: "The elevated cab gives us a clear view into vehicles. Even now, ten years on, drivers don't always realise they're being watched."
He continued: "Enforcement only gets us so far. Some drivers still don't realise how long drugs stay in the body. We once had to physically support a motorcyclist who was high on cannabis -- he claimed he'd smoked the night before."
"We need cultural change. Like how drink driving became socially unacceptable -- we need the same for phone use behind the wheel." "We all want the same thing -- safer roads, fewer collisions, and a future where serious injuries and deaths on the roads are a thing of the past."
In just one month last year (July 2024), Operation Tramline in Surrey recorded the following statistics:
125 mobile phone offences
28 seatbelt offences
18 red X lane offences
8 drink or drug drivers
146 Traffic Offence Reports
7 vehicles seized
12 referrals to the Traffic Commissioner
33 drivers summoned to court
Surrey RoadSafe also asked the operation's leader which incidents he witnesses stand out in his memory the most, to which he said: "A lorry carrying hot tarmac drove past us on the M25[3] -- through roadworks, at 50mph, using his phone. He didn't see our marked vehicle with lights on. Turns out his licence was suspended and he was over the drink-drive limit.
A dangerous mix."
According to the Sargent, future plans for Operation Tramline could see minibuses used in urban areas, saying: "We've trialed minibuses and commuter buses in urban areas -- they give us the same elevated view and covertness as the lorry, but with more flexibility."