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Nowhere to hide...
Page 9
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If you're a cowboy operator, watch out —Big Brother really is watching you now. Or at least that's what it will seem like now VOSA has a new, but not exactly secret, weapon: its fleet of Ford Galaxy cars equipped with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) equipment (see page 6).
Now running on roads in every Traffic Area, the cars are out to target those operators who aren't toeing the line, with technology that allows VOSA to instantly identify vehicles which, for instance, aren't specified on Operator's Licences or may have prohibitions.
For law-abiding operators, this technology must be welcome. Since VOSA is promising to use it as part of its selection process for roadside checks, compliant companies should find they're being pulled in for checks less frequently.
But for the cowboys, it's clearly bad news. Now there's nowhere to hide— and with the ANPR cars on the roads in each Traffic Area, taking the risk of running a truck which isn't legal just won't be worth it.
And with VOSA staff poised to be given powers to stop non-compliant vehicles, rather than having to rely on the police, enforcement should take a big step forward into the 21st century.