A van was seized and 40 drivers pulled over for not wearing seat belts, using mobile phones and other reasons last week.

Reporter Alice Foster put on a fluorescent jacket to join policemen on an operation to stop suspicious vehicles on the A24, in Ashtead, on Thursday morning.

A total of 19 traffic offences were logged and two vehicles were banned from being used on the road until they are repaired.

A police team in side road Stag Leys were radioed by a plain-clothed policeman and police van with a computer system that checked 3,000 number plates further up the road.

At 11.15am a white ford transit van was pulled over because the passenger was not wearing a seat belt and it emerged that the driver was not on the van’s insurance.

Neighbourhood Sergeant John Pearson at the scene said the Lithuanian driver was being reported for not having insurance and the van would be seized.

Sgt Pearson said: "It looked a bit of a dodgy vehicle and sure enough it turned out to be."

He said the Lithuanian passenger had overstayed his visa but was not arrested because he was in the middle of an appeal to stay in the UK on human rights grounds.

Police can give a fixed penalty of £200 and six penalty points to someone caught driving a vehicle which they are not insured to drive.

Earlier in the morning a car with a cracked front windscreen was banned from use on the road until the car is repaired.

Casualty reduction officer PC Tom Arthur, who was leading the operation, told the driver he had to get out and leave the car.

PC Arthur told him: "You can’t drive like this because it’s dangerous."

Further up the A24 a police van was stationed with a camera and automatic number plate recognition machine to flag up vehicles registered on a national database.

The machine in the van beeped as an untaxed vehicle drove by and a police community support officer radioed police down the road to stop it.

The PCSO said: "I’m just assisting by helping to spot any potential vehicles that may be of interest to police."