A DAY aimed at reducing crime, truancy and rubbish in Ipswich town centre has today been hailed a success.Police officers joined with community caretakers, firefighters, vehicle inspectors and councillors in a bid to clear-up the streets of central Ipswich.

A DAY aimed at reducing crime, truancy and rubbish in Ipswich town centre has today been hailed a success.

Police officers joined with community caretakers, firefighters, vehicle inspectors and councillors in a bid to clear-up the streets of central Ipswich.

Inga Lockington, Suffolk county councillor for St Margaret's and Westgate was one of those involved in yesterday's clean-up.

She said: “The day was a considerable success, with much achieved to improve the area quickly, and a lot was learned that will help us maintain the improvement.

“What is particularly useful about these days is that they bring so many different agencies' services together so that almost anything gets done straight away.

“Partnership working like this means everybody learns a lot, and makes good contacts.

“Talking to residents face to face means we can all quickly understand the local situation and find an answer.”

The event, titled Operation Waterloo, was the seventh of its kind in Ipswich.

It covered the Anglesea Road, Handford Road, Yarmouth Road and Georges Street areas.

Throughout the day three cars were impounded for not having tax, the owners of nine cars were given notice of fines for having untaxed vehicles and eight letters were issued regarding untaxed or abandoned cars on private land.

Parking tickets were issued to eight vehicles, two truanting children were returned to school and two other parents were spoken to about their children being absent from school.

Fire prevention advice was given to seven households and 23 housing issues were dealt with by Ipswich Borough Council staff.

Street care issues were also identified and rubbish was cleaned from the streets.

The police also deployed their Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system and checked 4,300 registration numbers.

One man was arrested on a warrant from Kent for failing to appear in court.