Traffic Cops (2003)

A fire extinguisher is launched from a fleeing getaway car. An insight into the working life of officers patrolling Britain's roads.

The programme follows officers from Derbyshire's road crime unit as they target dealers bringing drugs into the county, with PC Nick Lovatt giving chase after a sighting of a suspected dealer in Derby. At police HQ, the cops receive intelligence about a van travelling towards Derbyshire suspected of carrying a large amount of cash. The Road Crime Unit heads into position to intercept the van and surround it on the motorway.

Derbyshire's Road Crime Unit uses intelligence and surveillance tactics to crack down on suspected drug dealers. The team receives some intelligence about a man suspected of ferrying drugs into the county using a relative's car. After boxing the car to a stop, a struggle breaks out between the driver and road crime cop Nick Lovatt, and the suspect is forcibly cuffed and detained.

Karl is called to an accident involving a driver in his seventies who has reversed into a house and ruptured a gas main. With the elderly man trapped in his car, it's a full-scale emergency for Karl and his colleagues to free the driver and prevent an explosion. On the outskirts of Derby, traffic cop Jason is called to a mystery crash involving a middle-aged woman who has rolled her car on a quiet suburban street. Unsure why or how the accident has occurred, Jason is left gobsmacked when the truth is revealed.

The pubs finally reopen after nearly four months of lockdown and as a result the police prepare for a spike in drink-drive incidents on Derbyshire's roads. Paul investigates a report of a crash involving a car that has gone straight over a roundabout and then been abandoned, while Scott is called to a report of an alleged hit-and-run - which transpires to be the result of a fight between a pub-goers that spiralled out of control and into the path of oncoming motorists.

A scooter is driven the wrong way down a dual carriageway into oncoming traffic, but despite it having its tyres stung and being followed by a police helicopter, it proves incredibly difficult to apprehend the rider. A chase nearly ends in serious injury for an officer when he is almost dragged along by a car after it is cornered in a supermarket car park.

After receiving reports that a lorry driver has almost struck a road worker on the M1, officers race to intercept a seven-and-a-half-ton truck, with Sgt Scott Riley deploying a stinger to bring the vehicle to a standstill. PC Chris Ryan receives a police camera alert that the driver in the car in front of him may under the influence of drugs, while Sgt Steve Hughes and his team investigate a crash in which a car hit a wall. Share this on:

Officers stop a driver in relation to an alleged drunken assault and the breathalyser indicates he is more than three times over the limit and two knives are found in his car. Scott is patrolling Peak District villages and responds to a call in from a member of the public about two men acting suspiciously, soon coming across a white van towing an expensive trailer.

PC Dave Naylor responds to a call after a man with a history of violence is suspected of having stolen a car, which ispursued at 95mph along the M1, while police receive information about a man suspected of trying to sell a car for £1,000 and then driving off with both the vehicle and the cash.

PC Chris Ryan is patrolling alone at night when he spots a suspected cloned SUV and gives chase, with the driver of the vehicle ramming the police car five times and eventually turning off its lights to escape over a field. PC Nick Lovatt is part of a team of officers tracking a suspected drug-runner after a car is caught on a police camera, with a high-speed chase through residential streets ensuing.

Lee Ridley is one of four police vehicles pursuing a car suspected of being cloned, while police work with fire and medical crews after a crash on the M1 leads to a lorry ploughing off the road and into an embankment. Rich Morris responds to his fifth crash in four hours but as he places bollards on the road, he is almost knocked over by a car that skids by out of control mere inches away.

PC Andy Swift is patrolling on the M1 when a car he has flagged down takes off, prompting a chase at speeds up to 120mph, while PC Jason Potts is called to a pub where a distressed woman is convinced her boyfriend has fallen into the freezing waters of a canal.

Matt Cooling and Josh Field are on the lookout for organised gangs attempting to steal HGVs and the goods they carry. After they spot a suspect lorry, it's a dangerous and risky business trying to bring it to a stop safely, requiring tactics and teamwork. PC Andy Swift is called to a report of the theft of a van and catches a suspect red-handed in a vehicle parked outside the owner's house.

Acting on intelligence, the eight members of Derbyshire's Road Crime Team set out to intercept a car suspected of being used in drug deals, and detain three men, including the main target they were looking for. Ant Horsley gives chase when a suspicious car fails to stop late at night, with the vehicle eventually crashing after taking a corner too fast.

Matt Copestake is called to investigate a woman suspected of drink-driving at 10am, and discovers she was arrested two weeks previously for the same offence. Andy Swift is on the trail of a driver who has allegedly failed to stop after a collision, while PC Alex Boniface is almost hit by a car while he is clearing away debris after woman drove a car into a pub's wall.

An edition following Derbyshire officers as they tackle young offenders, with Sgt Matt Edwards on the hunt for a gang of suspected teenage car thieves in Derby thought to have been breaking into houses to steal car keys and then the occupant's vehicle. Alex Boniface and his partner Chris Buckland are tipped off to the whereabouts of a car with links to drugs and it is spotted in a residential area with two young occupants, who are pulled over and searched.