POLICE netted 12 untaxed cars and a disqualified driver in a joint campaign with DVLA staff on a Trowbridge estate.

Using an Automatic Number Plate Recognition machine, police and DVLA officials targeted the Studley Green estate for a three-day period.

The ANPR is linked to a database of drivers who have failed to pay their car tax, or filled out a notice declaring their vehicle is off the road.

Studley Green was picked for Operation Cannon because of the high number of complaints over abandoned and untaxed cars.

Police carried out a sticker campaign on the estate last month, with bright orange notices placed on cars without valid discs.

Sgt Martin Schorah said the operation could be run in other parts of the towns, with the main arterial routes the likely target.

"The DVLA were happy with the campaign and want to come back again," he said.

"The vehicles stopped were issued with a ticket to produce driving documents and we are still waiting for some of the drivers to come in. Prosecutions could follow on."

In the run-up to the operation the DVLA had 2,019 cars logged as untaxed in the Trowbridge area.