MECHANIC students in Trowbridge have lent a helping hand to Wiltshire Police in showing the dangers of illegal modifications to cars this week.

Level 2 students at Wiltshire College have purposely illegally modified a BMW 3 Series on one side, while on the other, showing drivers the safe and legal way of making such adjustments.

The Roads Safety Unit will now use the vehicle as an educational tool in their roadshows.

Sergeant Gavin Brewster said the 50/50 project gave the apprentices hands on experience of the opposing modifications and learn about the pitfalls and dangers of the illegal side.

“You get your car modification enthusiasts and they like to make all these changes to their cars to make them look nicer but what they do not appreciate is that it is making the vehicle unroadworthy and illegal,” he said.

“What we hope to do in areas of Wiltshire where we are getting complaints about car modifications is to take this vehicle along and we will park up with the local policing team and use it to engage with the young people and to show them what has been done illegally on one side and how it should be on the other.

“The nuisance of what is being done to the cars results in complaints because the drivers forget there are residential areas and so it is not just about danger but also its impact on communities.

“We have a good partnership with the college and we donate vehicles to them to work on but it is nice for us to work with them on something specific which we will use as an educational tool.”

The BMW, which was donated to the college in December after being seized for no insurance, has had its suspension lowered, windows tinted and other modifications to its exhaust.

Jon Honey, teacher of Level 2 Diploma in automotive engineering said he felt his students were able to learn the importance of doing car modifications legally as many have had friends killed or injured in accidents where the car had been altered.

One student who felt he gained a lot from the experience was Kris Gill, 18 who said he thoroughly enjoyed working on the project with the police.

He added: “It has been great fun. I knew a lot of things we were doing were illegal and it is about learning different ways of doing this within the law.”