MORE than 300 untaxed cars have been taken away to be crushed in an innovative scheme to rid Maidstone of unwanted cars and cripple the town's criminal fraternity.

Emergency services and local councillors have praised the success of Operation Cubit, a multi-agency scheme combating the problem of abandoned and untaxed vehicles.

Since its launch at the beginning of January, a total of 340 cars have been removed from public highways and council land. Many have already been crushed and hundreds more could face the same fate if they are not reclaimed within 35 days.

Maidstone council's cabinet member for health and the environment, Cllr Roger Berriman (Lab) said he was "ecstatic" with the success of the scheme.

He said: "The results are absolutely staggering. This wasn't just about the vehicles dumped at the side of the road. There were also vehicles that were blatantly being driven around with no licence. I will be using this to push to cabinet to roll this out into further programmes."

Supt Mick Matthews, area commander or Maidstone and Malling Police, said the operation had had a dramatic effect on the number of burglaries and other crimes. He said: "It is an incredibly successful ongoing operation. The first figures are excellent news.

"We always knew people were using untaxed cars for crime. The impact has been to inhibit their movement and restrict their ability to carry out criminal activities."

The £20,000 scheme was part funded by the borough Council and Kent Fire Brigade and involved the police, the DVLA and Kent County Council.

Dave Friedman, station commander at Maidstone fire station, said: "It has been a great success. We have seen a notable reduction in the number of deliberate and abandoned car fires."