Operation Elderflower

Did you see that police motorbike recently?

Actually, maybe you didn’t. However PC Iain Condliffe from Nantwich Police Station has put together an ongoing operation over the summer months in order to help reduce collisions and educate drivers.

Operation Elderflower is being staged across the whole of the Nantwich with particular focus given to the Rural area. Using high profile liveried and unmarked motorbikes and ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) equipped vehicles, Elderflower aims to speak to motorists and offer advice or enforce any offences that are identified.

All of the Police cluster meetings in the rural area are attended by Parish Councillors who raise issues that residents are most concerned about. The common threads through all of the meetings are traffic and speeding issues across the area.

As such, PC Condliffe has spoken with colleagues and researched the roads that statistically involve the highest number of collisions and complaints.

These ‘Target Roads’ are then policed by the motorcycle officers and depending on the gravity of the offence, motorists are either warned, referred to a driver safety course or issued with a ticket.

On the first day of the operation which concentrated on the Audlem cluster roads, namely the A529 into Audlem from Hankelow, the A530 from Nantwich to Combermere and the A525 from Combermere to Buerton, three drivers were put on a speed awareness course and five drivers were issued were issued with tickets resulting in points and a fine. Since then, a further 38 motorists have been dealt with.

Inspector Dave Smithers welcomed the introduction of this initiative and outlined that Operation Elderflower will continue to be run over the summer period and on for the foreseeable future, focusing on our rural roads at differing times with the aim of making the Nantwich area a safer place for all users who utilise the road network within our area.

He also stated that the additional ‘specialist’ officers, who are drafted in to assist will also be asked to provide some visibility to the Town area of Nantwich at key times in support of these Rural Operation times.  

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.