Operation Cubit - a 10-day campaign to remove untaxed vehicles from the streets of Pembrokeshire - has been hailed a success.

The exercise, mounted by the DVLA and Pembrokeshire County Council and supported by the Police and Fire Service, impounded a total of 89 vehicles, 29 of which have been reclaimed.

The 60 remaining vehicles remain in the council pound and, if not claimed, will be crushed by the DVLA.

Some 92 abandoned vehicles were also tagged and removed to a compound where they will be scrapped unless removed by their owners.

A team from DVLA's local office also carried out roadside checks with their Automatic Number Plate Recognition equipment and successfully captured 125 tax evaders. They also made 142 manual captures.

These offenders will be traced and written to in due course for any back-tax owing, as will the owners of the 60 impounded vehicles.

Said county councillor Brian Hall, cabinet member for environment and transportation: "Untaxed vehicles are also uninsured vehicles and therefore a danger to society with victims of accidents left unable to claim from the driver.

"They also become the seed-bed of abandoned vehicles which litter our countryside and streets. Abandoned vehicles become magnets to vandals and fire raisers and in turn a danger to society, especially children."

• As from January, 2004, continuous registration is being introduced by the DVLA. This means that anyone not taxing his or her vehicle or signing a Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN) will incur an automatic postal fine of £80. It will also be an offence not to notify the DVLA of the sale of a vehicle; the fine for this offence will be £1,000.

Any infringements subsequently made by this vehicle in the future will be the responsibility of the last known registered keeper. This includes parking fines, speeding tickets and disposal costs if the car later becomes abandoned. Pembrokeshire County Council will also be chasing all last known keepers for the recovery of disposal costs of all abandoned vehicles it has to remove.

The Local DVLA Office will be continuing regular roadside checks and Pembrokeshire County Council, supported by the Police, will be carrying out the removal and impounding of untaxed vehicles on a regular basis. The Police also have Automatic Number Plate Recognition equipment, linked to powerful databases, and will be monitoring vehicles on a regular basis.