Cambridgeshire Police have blasted claims that unmarked cars are being used to stop motorists to check if their journey is essential.

Rumours circulated on social media this afternoon (January 13) after a user claimed a friend had been stopped by police officers in an unmarked car.

“Just be warned,” they said. “A friend of mine has just been stopped by police in an unmarked car who questioned her to check her journey was essential.”

The incident reportedly happened in March at around 2pm, but a spokesperson for the force has denied that this is one of their tactics.

“Without further details on this it is very hard for us to look into it,” said a Cambridgeshire Police spokesperson.

“However, I can say that we are not using unmarked cars to stop vehicles and question people's journeys.”

Unmarked police cars – usually dark-coloured BMW saloon cars but can be anything – are official police vehicles with blue lights and sirens but without the livery.