Operation Multiball: multi-agency response to anti-social parking and use of business premises

The aim of Operation Multiball is to:

• utilise environment protection officers to manage fly tipping offences 
• collaborate with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to manage untaxed illegal parking of untaxed vehicles
• collaborate with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to tackle Ministry of Transport (MOT) test centres operating outside of protocols
• collaborate with the parish council to manage anti-social parking 
• work with the Environment Agency to minimise potential watercourse contamination
• manage immigration offences 

The intended outcomes of Operation Multiball are to:

• decrease the number of illegal parking incidents
• increase the number of sanctions given to vehicles for no tax, insurance, non-compliant number plates and MOT
• increase the number of sanctions against poor environmental health practices
• decrease the number of complaints to police and partner agencies on issues associated with industrial sites
• decrease the number of illegal workers on industrial sites

Despite previous efforts from the district and parish council, residents had reported becoming more distressed by the anti-social use of industrial business premises and parking problems. The problems included issues with parked cars, such as:

• reports of cars with no tax or MOT being parked on the public highway and parish council land
• difficultly accessing a footpath between a bus stop to a business park due to parked cars
• an access road was being blocked by parked vehicles from a garage

In addition:

• a spray booth was operating at the back of a garage with no extraction system, leading to paint being blown onto residential properties, and causing a hazard to residents using the footbath
• power tools were being used at anti-social times of the day and causing a noise nuisance, to residents

The district and parish council approached Thames Valley Police (TVP) for support in dealing with the anti-social industrial business use and parking problems. In response, TVP launched Operation Multiball in February 2026. The force initiated a multi-agency meeting chaired by the local Member of Parliament (MP). The purpose of the meeting was to create a strategy to implement a day of action to manage anti-social use of industrial business and parking problems. The relevant partners were identified using the neighbourhood policing team (NPT) knowledge and contacts. 

The meeting was attended by:

• United Kingdom Visas and Immigration

• DVLA
• DVSA
• Oxford City Council 
• Environment Health Agency 
• the local parish council 

After the meeting, a neighbourhood sergeant was responsible for setting the date for the day of action and briefing the NPT, drone and incident and response team (ICR). The neighbourhood sergeant contacted the control room and requested a silver talk group for the day and ensured that all agencies could provide their own transport. TVP intelligence unit conducted a firearms risk assessment to ensure that officers had the necessary search equipment and were sufficiently briefed to conduct the day of action.

For the day of action, TVP conducted a review to identify two industrial estates within Oxfordshire. All officers and partner agencies involved were briefed at a police base to understand their roles, and a rendezvous was conducted to ensure fast entry to the sites was possible. 

The day of action resulted in the identification of six illegal immigrants who were detained by officers. An arrest was made for modern slavery, a closure order was implemented on a business, and a community protection notice (CPN) was enforced. The following actions were implemented by partner agencies:

• DVSA closed two MOT stations
• DVLA clamped five vehicles and prosecuted 30 individuals for using roaming automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems
• Oxfordshire County Council issued nine penalties for parking and recovered a further five vehicles 
• Environment Agency served seven improvement notices to business owners

TVP’s corporate communication publicised the day of action, after the event on social media and on their website. The force followed up with partner agencies such as the Fire and Rescue Service who did not participate. The closure order remains in place and there is an ongoing modern slavery investigation.

There was no cost required to plan and implement Operation Multiball. The planning and implementation was conducted by the neighbourhood sergeant, which received buy-in support at inspector level and from the partner agencies. 

Since the day of action took place, the force have observed fewer reports of anti-social industrial business use and parking problems.

All partner agencies actively engaged throughout the planning and implementation of the operation, and each partner agency has reported positive results from the day of action.

Operation Multiball has been supported by the detective superintendent for Oxfordshire’s local policing area and the neighbourhood policing command team. The initiative has also been recognised by the serious organised crime moderation panel, where the outcome of the operation has been graded as a moderate disruption on the agency and partner management information system (AMPIS) scale.

The local press have favourably covered the day of action and there has been positive feedback from the public and local MP. 

• It can be challenging to co-ordinate all the partner agencies and agree on a date for the day of action. The co-ordination and the decision on a date for the day of action required perseverance from the officer in charge (OIC) as well as senior buy-in within the partner agencies. 
• The discovery of modern slavery offences required the attendance of additional police units to manage prisoner transport. The investigation phase of the modern slavery offences have been passed to a professionalising investigation programme (PIP) 2 department for further investigation. This required conversations at senior level to obtain buy-in and explain the process of the operation.
• It is important to have a thorough planning process and ensure that all the relevant senior managers are aware of the operation prior to implementation.