PEOPLE who have skipped bail and dodged court fines have been collared by Basingstoke police in a crackdown this week.

A five-strong team of officers have conducted early-morning calls across the town, arresting those who have failed to turn up to court and telling fine dodgers to pay up or face being detained until they do.

They started the operation on Tuesday with a 100-strong hit list.

Halfway through the blitz, which is set to finish tomorrow, they had netted £11,683.50 in unpaid fines and arrested seven people.

Pc Andrew Wright, from the police team working on the crackdown, said the fine-dodgers had failed to pay punishments for a range of offences from assaulting police officers to animal cruelty. Many are regular offenders.

"They've been warned by letters over the previous few months that this blitz is coming and that the justice system will catch up with them," said Pc Wright.

"The aim of the operation is to send out a strong message to the community that crime will not go unpunished."

He added that it was important to target those who have skipped bail for the sake of victims of crime.

Operation Turn-Up - as the crackdown is called - has been taking place across Hampshire Constabulary in collaboration with Her Majesty's Court Service.

First published: Friday, April 22, 2005