PEOPLE living on the Isle of Sheppey are being asked to "shop" disqualied motorists who continually put the lives of other road users at risk.

Police have launched a campaign to catch banned and uninsured drivers after figures revealed that the majority of road crashes last year in the Swale area involving hit-and-run incidents happened on Sheppey.

PC Dick Denyer, traffic support officer for Swale, said 48 per cent of crashes in the borough involved vehicles which failed to stop and, of these, 76 per cent happened on the Island. He stressed the biggest "hotspots" for these accidents were Queenborough, Marine Town in Sheerness and Minster.

Anyone with information can ring the hotline, which operates in office hours, on 0808 1003308 or they can ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Police say most hit-and-run driver fail to stop because they have either been banned by the courts or have no insurance or other driving documents. They also say that some people who drive while banned and uninsured are involved in other vehicle crime such as stealing cars.

Over the last four years, arrests for driving while banned have almost doubled. In 1998 just under 48 people were arrested for the offence, while in 2001, 98 people were arrested.

Now police, who are particularly targeting Sheppey, want the public to phone a free, confidential hotline with information about drivers who they know, or suspect, are driving while disqualified or uninsured.

Chief Insp Tony Bartlett, in charge of operations, said: "People don't get disqualified on a first offfence unless it is exceptionally serious, like drink-driving.

"These people are serial offenders who are showing dangerous driving trends which have led to them getting disqualified.

They won't change when they driving while disqualified and they will probably get worse. When people telephone in, in all honesty they are probably saving someone's life."

PC Denyer said disqualified drivers could not be insured so the ramifications for anyone involved in an accident with them were very serious. He thought parts of Sheppey were worse then others for hit-and-run incidents because Marine Town, for example, had many bedsits used by a transient population.

Insp Paul Dean, in charge of the area business plan for reducing road deaths, said: "The public need to realise that people have been disqualified for a reason. The courts consider that they should not be on the road and we agree with that."