Police have seized five vehicles and 14 drivers will be prosecuted after up to 400 cars were caught “setting up to race” in Nottingham.

Nottinghamshire Police said it became aware a large number of car cruisers were set to descend on the city on Saturday 3 May.

A coordinated operation was then put in place at known hotspots for reckless driving, which the force said led to the seizure of cars and allowed officers to prevent issues at other locations.

The force has targeted car cruising since last year as part of Operation Wheelspin, which aims to put the brakes on “meets” organised on closed social media groups.

The force said the initiative, which has used number plate recognition technology to build up a database of potential problem cars, has led to a 20% reduction in related offences.

Sgt James Carrington has previously told the BBC the force is “playing a game of cat and mouse” with car cruising organisers, who can often arrange multiple meets at several local locations on one night.

Speaking about the operation on 3 May, he said: “We seized five cars that night alone, and 14 drivers will be prosecuted.

“We also populated our database with a huge number of vehicle registration marks for further monitoring and to develop our intelligence picture going forward, as well as dispersing them out of Nottinghamshire without issue.”

Sgt Carrington added: “The operation was a real success and underlines how we will continue to work hard to keep people safe, prevent and disrupt antisocial behaviour being caused at these car cruise events, and do everything we can to bring offenders to justice.”

A further two cars were stopped, leading to police enforcement action after a smaller-scale pop-up meet on the A57 at Worksop on Bank Holiday Monday.