A driver seen ’racing’ another vehicle at 134mph on the M11 is among 260 people being investigated for a range of motoring offences following a police road safety operation in north west Essex.

The high-speed incident was caught on a roadside camera on a stretch of the motorway near Stansted Airport. A second vehicle involved in the incident was so close to the car travelling at 134mph that its number plate could not been recorded on camera.

A total of 127 drivers were detected speeding on the M11, including nine travelling at more than 100mph.

The motorway speed checks were carried out on Wednesday October 14 during Operation Nash, part of Essex County Council’s No Excuse campaign to tackle motoring offences and raise awareness that there is no excuse for offences such as speeding, driving while using a mobile phone, not wearing seat belts or driving without insurance or valid driving documents.

The operation was carried out by officers from the Essex Police Casualty Reduction Section, officers based at Stansted Airport and licensing officers from Uttlesford District Council

Offenders were identified by officers patrolling in cars or on motorcycles or through automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology and vehicles were escorted to check sites near Stansted Airport and at Stortford Road, Dunmow.

Four drivers had their vehicles seized after they were found to have no insurance and two had expired MOT certificates.

A total of 31 drivers were stopped for using a mobile telephone at the wheel and 61 people were seen driving without seat belts. The majority of offenders were referred to a national educational course instead of receiving a fixed penalty notice.

Speed checks on local roads resulted in 29 offences, one driver was stopped for careless driving, two drivers were found to have faulty vehicle light and two had illegal number plates. Licensing officers from Uttlesford District Council dealt with a number of taxi infringements.

Essex Police’s Casualty Reduction Manager Adam Pipe said: “The incident where two cars were racing at more than 130mph was an appalling example of dangerous driving where innocent motorists were put at risk.

“We will be able to trace one of the drivers and take him to court where he faces an automatic ban, but the second car was so close that our camera could not record the number plate.

“All the 127 speeding drivers will be contacted by post and depending on their speed they will be offered a national speed awareness training course or will go to court where they could be given lengthy bans.

“Speeding is a contributory factor in many fatal or serious injury crashes and through Operation Nash and other local operations we will continue to take robust action against those drivers who continue to break the law.”