AS hundreds of youngsters danced the night away at a school prom, many of the stretch limousines that had taken them were spirited away by Government inspectors for random vehicle checks.

Sixteen vehicles that had earlier taken students to the Thomas Clarkson Community College Prom in Wisbech were ushered by police to a nearby industrial unit before inspection teams got to work.

“It is disappointing to find that almost half the vehicles we stopped were committing a road traffic offence relating to the safety of the passengers,” said Inspector Chris Skepper.

“These vehicles were carrying children and have a legal and moral obligation to ensure their safety.

“Vehicles with no MOT or a defect are much more likely to be involved in a collision and these drivers were risking their safety, the safety of their passengers and that of other road users.”

Among the defects found were a fuel leak, defective brakes and a broken suspension coil spring.

Two immediate prohibition orders were issued meaning the drivers could not move their vehicles until they fixed the defect. Four deferred prohibition orders, giving 28 days to fix the defect, were issued and one driver was fined for going over their legal driving hours without a break.

Two drivers were fined for having no MOT and several issued notices for licensing offences.

A spokesman for the Vehicle Operators Service Agency enforcement team said: “Notices were issued for such things as a worn brake disk, a significant

fuel leak, handbrakes that did not work, a tyre, corrosion, broken coil

spring, brake hoses chaffed through to cords, no tachograph fitted,

failure to produce drivers hours records and no operators licence.”

In one case a stretched Hummer H2 had significant defects “which

reflected very poor preventative maintenance,” he said.

He said the petrol leak was a “major and very dangerous petrol leak from the engine.”