Cars seized, licences revoked and anti-social behaviour orders issued in Sheffield city centre crime crackdown

The "hard-hitting operation", which ran on from Thursday until Saturday, saw police out in force on Sheffield city centre in a bid to drive down crime at night.

On Thursday, officers carried out "test purchases" at city centre shops, to check if alcohol was being sold to underage customers without ID, and three premises failed the tests.

Around 16 homeless people were stopped by officers on Friday, in relation to anti-social behaviour offences, and given advice for support or ordered to disperse.

And on Saturday, police carried out a taxi and vehicle licensing operation to crackdown on cars without tax or insurance.

A series of taxi had their licences revoked, and cars without tax or insurance were seized.

Temporary Chief Superintendent Shaun Morley, Sheffield Commander, said: "This was a significant operation over three days and I’m grateful to all of our staff, and those at partner agencies, who worked together to achieve these results.

“Operations like this are really important to demonstrate to the public that we do not tolerate crime in any form in Sheffield and I hope the wide range of activities highlights our commitment to tackle criminality of any kind.

“We are here to ensure that your city centre is the safest place it can be, to protect vulnerable people and to arrest anyone who commits crime and makes people feel unsafe.

“This is by no means the end of our work and we hope to carry out more operations like this in future.”

A police drugs dog was also on patrol on Saturday, and several cannabis users were issued with warnings.

Officers also monitored how door staff and bars responded to people who were obviously drunk.