Police in Cromwell have noticed an "upsurge" in the number of people driving on suspended licences, especially younger people.
Senior Constable John Chambers said it seemed they were catching a couple of people each week who were continuing to drive after their licence had been suspended, usually for three months because they had accrued more than 100 demerit points.
"There just seems to have been a bit of an upsurge ... mostly younger people, under-20s."
He said there were a large number of people in the town who had had their licences suspended and police were aware of who they were but it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time to catch them.
Those caught had the cars they were driving impounded, even if they did not own them.
He said those people could also, if convicted, face a penalty of imprisonment for up to three months or a fine of up to $4500 and a mandatory six-month driver licence suspension.
Sergeant Dave Greaves, of Alexandra, said there had been no noticeable increase of the same offences in Alexandra.
However, "we are conscious of those drivers and we do target them", he said.
Two weeks ago, more than 560 Central Otago drivers were stopped at police checkpoints, four were forbidden to drive because of expired licences and 74 were warned for not carrying licences.
