Cars have been seized and drivers slapped with tickets as part of a police crackdown on motorists flouting road safety rules.

Police in Thanet stopped drivers who were using mobile phones and seized uninsured cars.

Officers from the district's Community Policing Team carried out checks at Nethercourt Hill, Ramsgate, Queen's Parade, Margate and on the A28 in Birchington on Friday.

A total of 65 vehicles were stopped during the day, with four uninsured cars seized.

Seven drivers were issued with Traffic Offence Reports, four for driving without insurance, two for driving while operating a mobile phone and one for speeding.

The stops also led to seven searches being carried out under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with cannabis seized from one vehicle and one person issued with a caution for possession of cannabis.

Thanet District Commander Chief Inspector Rhiannan Pepper said: "With shorter daylight hours and increasingly icy and wet roads at this time of year, safe and responsible driving is extremely important.

"We focused our activity on roads where concerns over dangerous driving have been raised to us by residents, and we will continue to respond to local reports in this way.

"As the results show, illegally driven or uninsured cars are all too often linked to other forms of criminality and I am pleased that our work has also led to searches for and the seizure of illegal drugs.

"I encourage everyone using Thanet’s roads to take responsibility for the safety of their vehicles, and their driving, and ask anyone who has concerns about issues in their area to report them at www.kent.police.uk/report or by calling 101."

Read more: All the latest news from Thanet