A SCHEME to help clean up a Hampshire village has been hailed a great success.

The Stubbington Crime Reduction Environment Week (CREW) saw one arrest, £500 of fines doled out, 11 bags of rubbish collected, 17 fire safety checks carried out and an increase in high-visibility patrols.

A further five truants were dealt with by education welfare, and 72 prizes awarded to children from Crofton Anne Dale Junior School for entering a firework safety competition.

The clean-up started on October 31 and police used special equipment to check that cars were registered and the owners had valid insurance and tax.

Overall, 3,971 cars were checked and of these, 40 cars had no registered owner, 21 had no tax and one vehicle was seized as it was deemed not roadworthy.

Wayne Ranson, 30, from Chichester Close, Gosport was charged for disqualified driving, failing to stop for the police and having no insurance, he was given a three-month prison sentence.

Supt Graham Haycock said: "A CREW week is a great way of advising a whole community how they can stay safe and protect their property. I think it's great that the whole community got involved with litter picking. Just clearing an area of rubbish will make it feel like a much better place to live.

"The fact that we got so many results from the use of the ANPR equipment is fantastic. It just proves to drivers that if they try and cheat the system we will find them eventually and fines will be issued accordingly."

CREW week started with a leaflet drop to more than 1,000 homes.