Detector blitz on tax cheats
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by Derrell Hayes • Iiauliers running vehicles without road tax could soon be caught by speed camera-style detectors under a joint initiative between the police and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
The Automated Number Plate Reading (ANPR) project, which is to start in the summer across the country, is seen as the first step to reducing the 0£25m lost each year in LGV licence dodging.
Police will operate mobile cameras from the roadside recording every vehicle's number plate and matching it to the DVLA's national licence database. Anybody found to be operating an unlicensed vehicle will be prosecuted.
The Home Office is currently working on legislation and a code of practice to protect motorists. If successful, cameras are expected to be set up at various strategic points such as ports, toll booths and particular traffic hot spots.
The DVLA also says it would enable all enforcement agencies
to swap information on lawbreaking operators and is hoping to involve the private sector in running systems.
Hywel Harris, a member of the DVLA's Enforcement Strategy Group, says the numbers of unlicensed vehicles has been controlled but not reduced. He says: "We see this not only as a method of enforcement but also as a deterrent. For every one prosecution we get we hope hundreds will be running to the