Antisocial driving


Operation Crackdown allows you to report careless, dangerous or aggressive driving. You can also report vehicles driving in contravention of a prohibition, such as a weight or width restriction, or against a one-way system.

It only takes a few minutes, all reports are logged and actions may include police investigation or warning letters to drivers. When you use Operation Crackdown to report dangerous or anti-social driving, the system:

  • Automatically checks whether the vehicle has been reported previously
  • Links to the DVLA database and obtains the registered keeper’s details

Over 95% of reports result in a letter to the driver and most drivers are not reported again, in the 12 months that records are kept.

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Report road users breaking the speed limit to Sussex Police using: Operation Crackdown.

Setting speed limits

Local authorities can vary speed limits for the roads they control. We follow government guidance and legislation when deciding where and how to make changes to speed limits.

Changes to speed limits

Speed limits, to be effective, must be set at a level which appears reasonable to a driver and adequately reflect the environment through which the road passes. Many people consider speed limits as the answer to all road safety concerns and whilst appropriately set speed limits can improve road safety, erecting speed limit signs does not always produce the desired level of vehicle speeds unless a driver can see a need for the limit.

There are a number of factors that are taken into consideration when assessing a site for a speed limit. These include visible frontage development, existing vehicle speeds, road character, crash record, local facilities, and level of vulnerable road users as it is these factors that influence the speed chosen by a driver. For a speed limit to be effective, and as far as possible self-regulating, it must appear reasonable to a driver and adequately reflect the environment through which the road passes.

All requests to change speed limits are assessed by the Road Safety team, see: road safety improvements – how we decide.

30mph ‘repeater’ signs

Street lights usually mean the speed limit is 30mph, unless there are signs showing otherwise. The law does not allow us to put 30mph signs on these roads.

Temporary speed limit posters may be available from your Town or Parish council, see: how your community can help.

Speed cameras

Speed camera management and locations are decided by the: Sussex Safer Roads Partnership (SSRP).

Vehicle Activated Signs (VASs)

The safety benefits of vehicle activated signs are proven but these can be lost through proliferation which lessens their impact and can lead to drivers disregarding those signs which have been installed at sites with significant crash histories. Vehicle Activated Signs (VASs) are only provided in the following circumstances:

  • where there is an ongoing history of crashes involving personal injury and all other practicable remedial measures, such as permanent signing, have already been implemented 
  • where we have identified a speed management issue and are implementing the necessary measures to ensure drivers comply with the speed limit, particularly where we are proposing to lower the current limit
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Sussex Safer Roads Partnership logo

Large vehicles using unsuitable routes are a problem on many of our rural roads. Satnav systems direct drivers of all types of vehicle to use routes they may not previously have been aware of. Many major roads in East Sussex are busy and drivers are increasingly using minor roads as an alternative.

The Department for Transport recommends contacting satnav companies responsible for the data, but as there are so many this is unlikely to help. We can report routes to Ordnance Survey (OS) but not all satnav providers use OS data.

Although we cannot introduce restrictions on all reported roads, we try to ensure that environmentally unsuitable roads with a high volume of traffic are considered for restriction, if a more suitable route is available.

Reports can also be made to the lorry operating company. See: Find lorry or bus operators (gov.uk).

Dangerous or antisocial driving can be reported via: Operation Crackdown


East Sussex County Council is responsible for parking enforcement in the boroughs of Eastbourne and Hastings and in Lewes and Rother districts. Parking enforcement in Wealden is currently the responsibility of Sussex Police.

All information related to parking enquiries can be found on the: parking section of the County Council website. 

Commercial vehicle parking

Residents should first contact the company of the commercial vehicles that park in their street and ask them to direct their employees to park more considerately.

Vehicles over 3.5 tonnes (for example, larger than a Luton van)
To report company, delivery or utility vans, buses, coaches etc that are regularly parked overnight in a residential road, contact the: Traffic Commissioners for London and the south east.

Vehicles under 3.5 tonnes
Commercial vehicles with a valid “Goods Vehicle Identity Disc” that are physically obstructing access should be reported to the police via their non-emergency number 101.


Supported by the Police, community groups can use speed detection devices to monitor and report speeding vehicles via: Operation Crackdown.

Town and Parish Councils trained in Community Speed Watch will also be able to use Speed Indicator Devices which can be deployed in towns and villages to raise a driver’s awareness of the speed limit by displaying a ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ face. You can contact your: town or parish council to see if they are already taking part in this scheme.

Temporary posters, reminding drivers to keep to the speed limit can be arranged by your: town and parish council.

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