Councillor Rodney Quigley pictured with officers from the PSNI's Ballymena Neighbourhood Team, and Driver Vehicle Agency Enforcement Team in the town last week.
Local Indeoendent Councillor Rodney Quigley has welcome recent action taken by the PSNI and Driver Vehicle Agency (DVA) in relation to illegal cars on the roads around Ballymena.
Police and DVA mounted the planned operation last week after Cllr Quigley relayed the concerns of a number of local residents to the authorities over the increase in vehicles around the town that were being used without having Tax, MOT or being fully insured - some upwards of a year.
Drivers who do not maintain their vehicles to a roadworthy condition or pay for insurance can lead to costly impacts for other road users - both by causing unnecessary accidents, leaving other drivers out of pocket for repairs, and possibly giving rise to injuries, or at worst, fatalities on Northern Ireland's roads.
During last week's operation police confirmed prohibitions were put on six vehicles, while numerous fixed penalty notices (PCNs) were issued alongside endorsable PCNs in the town.
Commenting on the police action, Councillor Rodney Quigley said:
"Over the last number of months I have been contacted by many of my constituents sharing their concerns over the number of vehicles on our roads which have no Tax or MOT.
"I can fully understand that some of these were due to the backlog of MOT appointments. However, many of the cars identified had no Tax or MOT for upwards of over a year.
"There were also some vehicles where being driven on the roads which were SORN.
"These issues obviously lead to problems with vehicles being uninsured, and as a result of that innocent people would end up out of pocket in the event of a road traffic collision.
"I commend the PSNI and DVA on last week's well planned operation.
"Hopefully this operation wasn't just seen as an exercise to remove such vehicles from our roads, but will also serve as a reminder to those who try and avoid the issue that there's no hiding place when it comes to vehicle Tax and MOT."
Following the operation a spokesperson the Police Service of Northern Ireland said:
"Ballymena Neighbourhood team in conjunction with the Driver and Vehicle Agency Enforcement team conducted a joint operation to tackle vehicles in Ballymena without Tax, Insurance and MOT while not being in a roadworthy condition.
"Concerns were raised by local communities to Councillor Rodney Quigley who in turn raised it to ourselves.
"We put prohibitions on six vehicles, with numerous fixed penalty notices and endorsable fixed penalty notices being issued.
"We thank you for your patience and cooperation."