Praise for police stopping drink and drug drivers as part of festive clampdown

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and Thames Valley Police made 737 arrests as part of Operation Holly. The arrests were carried out by roads policing officers in the Joint Operations Unit who work across both counties.

Throughout December officers stopped drivers and carried out drink and drug road side testing. Of the arrests made, 286 of those were made across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, with 153 for drink driving and 133 for drug driving.

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Police and crime commissioner, Donna Jones said: ‘Too many people die needlessly on our roads every year due to careless, dangerous, drink and drug driving. There is absolutely no excuse for anyone to get behind the wheel if they are unfit to drive.

‘I know the vast majority of drivers are responsible but sadly the number of arrests show that there are still those, who despite the obvious dangers, continue to take to the road under the influence of drink or drugs, and put other people’s lives at risk.

‘Thankfully, roads policing officers were able to stop many in their tracks after making 286 arrests last month. This is the kind of proactive policing people want to see.

‘As commissioner, people tell me how important road safety is to them and how they want to see more police cars on our road networks, and I agree. Officers need to be out on the roads, responding to calls of dangerous, drink or drug driving and preventing tragedies that happen way too often.

‘To show my commitment to making roads safer I recently brought back a dedicated roads policing unit on the Isle of Wight, and I will continue to ensure the wider force has enough officers in this important role across our two counties for years to come.’

Chief Inspector Chris Spellerberg, of the Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, said: ‘While I am pleased this year's campaign has been a success with so many arrests, there are still too many people continuing to get behind the wheel despite being under the influence. Anyone who drives after drinking or taking drugs is putting the lives of innocent people at risk.’