Operation Limit: 277 People Arrested as Campaign Passes Halfway Point

Merseyside Police has, today, Thursday 18 December, announced that more than 277 people have been arrested for drug and drink driving since the force’s campaign began on 1 December.

Of those arrests, 57 were alcohol related, while 211 were drug related.

This is a 19 percent increase in arrests from the same time in 2024.

Stuart McIver, Roads Policing Chief Inspector, thanked the public for their positive response to the campaign:  

“Limit is, by far, one of the most publicly supported policing operations we run.  The Merseyside community is just as passionate as we are about ridding drug and drink drivers from our roads. Everyone wants their loved ones to get home safe for Christmas, even when it means a delay in their journey if they’re pulled over and drug wiped or breathalysed.

“People want us out there testing. They call us up to report drug and drink drivers.  And I’d like to thank the public for their support.

“We’re really pushing ourselves this year, as part of the Winter of Action, to get every policing strand and area breathalysing and drug wiping.  We invest massively as a force in the amount of drug wipes we buy so that every officer who’s out on the road can be testing. 

“I’m not surprised by how many more drug driving related arrests we’ve made. People are still taking risks around drug driving in a way they wouldn’t with drink driving.  And If arresting hundreds of people is what it takes to get those selfish individuals to make more responsible choices, that’s exactly what we’ll do.

“I’m determined to make Merseyside an absolute nightmare for drug drivers.”

Operation Limit will continue throughout December, with regular stop checks taking place in hotspot areas and in tactically inexplicit locations, with all policing strands across Merseyside being encouraged to deploy breathalysers and drug wipes.

Merseyside Police is encouraging anyone who knows of someone actively drink or drug driving to call 999.