An Edinburgh motorist has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice during high visibility road checks.

Officers were carrying out checks in the Leith area over the weekend when they stopped the motorist, who has been charged after they provided a false name to officers, as they were an unaccompanied provisional licence holder.

Their vehicle was seized by the authorities and they have been reported to the prosecutor fiscal.

The checks were being carried out as a part of a wider vehicle crime operation. Over the last 12 months, the North East Support Team (NEST) have seized a total of 46 vehicles for a number of different road traffic offences – a large proportion of which have been for driving without insurance.

Sharing the success of the operation on Facebook, Police Scotland Edinburgh wrote: “This weekend, Special Constables from the North East Support Team have been conducting high visibility road checks throughout the Leith area as part of a vehicle crime operation.

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“Several offences were detected, including driving with no insurance. One driver has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice for providing a false name to officers, as they were an unaccompanied provisional licence holder. Their vehicle was also seized and they have been reported to the Procurator Fiscal.

“In the last 12 months, the NEST team have seized a total of 46 vehicles for a variety of road traffic offences, a significant proportion of those being for driving without motor insurance. NEST Special Constables continue to work with our partners at Drive Insured to detect and deter those who choose to drive without valid motor insurance.

“If found to be driving without valid insurance, the minimum penalty is 6 points and a £300 fine as well as having your vehicle seized.

“Roadside checks such as these have previously allowed us to detect drink and drug drivers, criminality, wanted and missing persons.

“The high visibility patrols and road side checks will continue throughout the festive period as we focus on keeping people safe.”

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