You wait all day to spot a police officer, then three come along at once.

In a new crime-fighting initiative, a team of police in Plymouth commandeered a double-decker bus to catch drivers using mobile phones. The top deck provided a perfect vantage point to peer into cars.

In what is thought to be the first scheme of its kind in the country, officers from Devon and Cornwall Police spent two days being driven around Plymouth in a bus.

They identified motorists committing moving traffic offences then radioed colleagues standing by in patrol cars, unmarked vehicles and on motorbikes, who pulled over the drivers.