Cumbria Police joined forces with a number of other agencies to ensure HGV drivers are sticking to legislation.

It comes after figures revealed HGVs were involved in 50% of all fatal collisions in the county last year.

As part of the campaign, a stop check was set up on the A74 at Harker on Thursday during which 119 vehicles were stopped.

Cumbria Police is working with the Vehicle Operations Standards Agency (VOSA), Customs and Excise, Cumbria Safety Camera Partnership and the Benefits Agency on the initiative.

Educate drivers

Thursday's spot checks discovered five overweight vehicles, eight drivers' hours offences, 13 brake offences, 12 tyre offences, one speed limiter offence and one offence concerned with the transportation of hazardous materials.

The Benefits Agency team discovered three fraudulent claims, including one person who had been overpaid �2,500, and three false declarations.

Acting Sergeant Mick Mills said: "This was a worthwhile operation for the agencies concerned and we are pleased with the results.

"We are concerned about the safety of HGVs on our roads and will be returning to these sort of checks in the future."

As well as enforcement, the campaign also aims to educate drivers to highlight some of the issues.

The campaign will run for a month and the overall aim is to reduce the amount of people killed or seriously injured in HGV-related accidents.