THIS shocking CCTV picture shows a man clinging to the roof of a car while another man drives it along Blackwood High Street.

The men were later arrested.

Inspector Chris Hocking Brown, based at Blackwood police station, said the image was captured last weekend during Operation Sabre, a crackdown on the town's 'car cruisers'.

The inspector said: "An awful lot of car cruisers are law-abiding, but we have a few mindless idiots who don't care about other people and have total disregard for other people's safety.

"I want to send out a message that this kind of behaviour cannot be condoned and people will have to take responsibility for their actions. "We will be having the cars off people who act in an unacceptable way - it's as simple as that."

Inspector Hocking Brown said that over four nights this month, six officers from the Blackwood task team blitzed the town and identified 81 alleged offences such as driving without due care and attention. One driver had his car seized under Section 59 of the Police Reform Act.

Twelve motorists stopped for driving without due care and attention or driving in an anti-social manner have been warned that if they commit another offence they, too, will have their car impounded until they pay a £105 release fee.

They will also be placed automatically on level one of the Anti-Social Behaviour Order process. Officers issued 52 fixed penalty notices, and five motorists were served with vehicle deficiency rectification notices. Drivers playing loud music and revving their engines late at night were also tackled by officers under powers granted by local by-laws.

Sergeant Lysha Williamson, of the Blackwood police task team, said: "This shows our previous warnings were not empty words - this is what will happen to motorists breaking the law."

Inspector Hocking Brown said the operation would continue over the summer.

He added: "I'm really pleased with the operation and I hope the public who have been blighted by this problem for so long appreciate the resources and efforts that are going into making life better for the majority of people."