POLICE caught 50 motorcyclists with defective machines in a swoop in the Ribble Valley yesterday.

The riders were stopped passing through Gisburn village in a day-long operation.

The village is on a popular route to Devil's Bridge at Kirby Lonsdale, a regular meeting point for bikers.

Of those stopped, the majority had defects on their bikes ranging from defective tyres, brakes and exhausts, to illegal size and design of number plates.

Police also found illegal designs of exhausts, tyres and lights, and illegal helmets.

But hundreds of other motorcyclists passed through the village without being stopped.

The operation was carried out by motorcycle officers from the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley pro-active traffic team along with traffic officers from Clitheroe.

Officers carried out visual checks on approach roads, including the A59, and around 50 bikers were then pulled up in the village.

Sergeant Nigel Walker said: "The operation was targeting motorcyclists to make sure their bikes were legal and roadworthy and to enforce the speed limit.

"The A59 has a high accident rate involving motorcyclists especially at weekends."

Some bikers were issued with fixed penalty tickets, others received vehicle defect reports giving them a certain amount of time to get defects repaired, and others were reported for possible prosecution.

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