TWENTY untaxed Torfaen cars are on their way to the crusher after an operation by the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

And a further 11 drivers have been forced to pay on-the-spot fines of £200.

The DVLA brought their mobile car-crusher to Cwmbran on October 29 to demonstrate what would happen to untaxed vehicles, and that has now been followed up by further action.

Cwmbran crime prevention officer PC Darrell Dewar said: "In a single week they have seized 20 cars, and 11 people have paid on the spot - from where I was it was a success.

"This is a warning - if you don't get your car taxed or get it off the streets, it'll go the same way. If you pay on the spot, then you pay £200, £80 of which is a fine and the other £120 is a surety.

"If you then get your road tax within 14 days, then you'll get that £120 back - if you don't it's confiscated.

"If they take your car away you're charged for storage on top of everything else, and if anything remains unpaid within seven days then the car is crushed.

"This isn't the end of it. The DVLA can only take away so many at a time and there are still a lot of untaxed vehicles they couldn't get around to, so we're not done cleaning up the streets.

"Thirty-one people came unstuck last week, and there will be even more if they don't get their cars taxed."

Gwent Police Deputy Chief Constable Bryan Davies told the Argus last month police were tracking 40 cars in Cwmbran alone.

"What really concerns us is the fact that we believe many of these 40 are being driven illegally by youngsters.

"And if there are 40 abandoned cars in Cwmbran, there are probably in excess of 100 in Torfaen, and at least four times that in the whole of Gwent.

"There have also been 127 vehicle fires in this area, and not one of those vehicles was reported as stolen."