It's not your normal motorway patrol vehicle.

But the extra height offered by Kent Police's latest (temporary) addition to the fleet gave officers the chance to peer into lorry cabs or down at drivers using mobile phones.

The lorry cab was used to patrol the M20 and other key roads for a week, nabbing 57 drivers for a variety of offences .

A specially trained officer took the wheel while a second sat in the passenger seat to look into passing vehicles and record offending drivers on camera.

Any offenders caught on camera were pulled into a safe location by a nearby patrol car to be dealt with.

To ensure the penalties were enforced, foreign vehicles issued with fines would not be allowed to leave until they paid.

Those without a British driving licence had one created and the appropriate amount of penalty points automatically added.

In total 57 vehicles were pulled over, including 44 HGVs and four LGVs.

The offences included:

• Using a mobile phone at the wheel: 21
• Not being in proper control: 6
• Not wearing a seat belt: 9
• Using the outside lane: 1
• Stopping on the hard shoulder: 1
• Faulty vehicle: 1
• Other: 1

In total 26 fixed penalty notices were issued and a further 15 traffic offence reports were created.

Officers from Kent Police used the unmarked lorry cab last week.