LAW-ABIDING motorists could be mistaken for criminals by police using the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems, the AA Motoring Trust has warned.
Number plates obscured by dirt or with incorrect letter and number spacing, that cannot be read by the ANPR camera, may be flagged up as suspect registrations and police sent in pursuit, said the trust.
Plates that have been stolen or cloned by criminals and used to evade prosecution for speeding, illegal parking, insurance and other offences may also land the registered car owners in trouble.
The trust said that with increasing use of ANPR, both motorists and enforcement agencies needed to understand the implications of this new crime-busting technology and tighten up their respective practices.
For their part, drivers needed to appreciate that the need to keep their number plates street legal had never been so great, and that failure to do so was more likely to bring prosecution.
Paul Watters, head of roads and transport policy for the AA Motoring Trust, said: "Whereas in the past police officers may have unofficially turned a blind eye to number plates covered in mud or customised registrations unless they needed to stop a car, ANPR may mean that the days of the fancy or dirty plate are numbered.
"ANPR will help police to catch illegal vehicles and drivers together at the roadside, whereas clamping and removing rogue cars, although taking them out of circulation, rarely catches up with offenders who simply buy another cheap vehicle.
"However, there will be other drivers, whose number-plates are obscured or cloned, who may be caught in the net."
The trust believes that any inaccuracies in data records held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and any time lag in recording changes in motorists' circumstances may end up with drivers being caught out by ANPR.
Mr Watters went on: "With so many sources of data, such as from post offices, MoT test centres, insurance companies and people who have sold cars privately, it is critical that it is all timely and accurate now that enforcement increasingly hinges on these records."
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