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October news

Hi-tech van spots dodgy cars

Council enforcers have removed 41 untaxed vehicles from Portsmouth streets using a van equipped with number-plate recognition cameras.

The Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) van was on loan to Portsmouth City Council for a week’s trial.

The two hi-tech cameras read number plates, which are then matched up with Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) records, showing whether tax has been paid.

Vehicles can be lifted off the street and taken away within 10 minutes of being spotted. They are either sold at auction or crushed - unless the owner claims them and pays at least £100 plus the cost of a tax disc.

Three of the vehicles had false tax discs and five had been notified to the DVLA as off the road.

The owners of the removed vehicles will have to pay a £100 removal fee (£200 if not claimed within 24 hours) plus tax for the vehicle, or pay a surety of £160. The council also charges £21 for storage per 24-hour period. Owners also face fines of up to £5,000.

The council’s deputy parking manager, Michael Robinson, said: “We've already taken hundreds of untaxed cars off the road this year using more traditional methods. But we’re keen to step up our hunt for untaxed vehicles for a number of reasons. A lot of them are not insured and don’t have MOTs, so removing them makes the streets safer. Some of them are linked to serious crimes. And every dodgy vehicle we get off the road means another parking space for a law-abiding resident.”

Cllr Lynne Stagg, the council’s cabinet member for traffic and transportation, said: “Untaxed vehicles are a hazard to other drivers and an annoyance for neighbours.

“After putting this special van through its paces we’ll look at the results and see whether we could use the technology on a more long-term basis

“We might be able to use it to enforce bus lanes and box junctions when councils get these powers in the near future.

“It’s possible that we could also recognise foreign-registered cars. Drivers of these vehicles often commit offences but then can't be caught. And some of them spend more time in this country than they do abroad, and therefore should be paying UK road tax.”

If residents have information on untaxed cars on the road, vehicle removal officers Steven Hewett and Gary Woods can be contacted on 023 9268 8284.

Date : 17 October 2008

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