ANPR cameras CANNOT read dirty plates

The use of new police cameras to read car number plates means drivers and enforcement agencies must tighten up their act, a motoring body claims.

The AA Motoring Trust said automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras cannot read plates obscured by dirt or with incorrect character spacing.

Apparently, a man with a customised plate was stopped in North Wales because officers did not think it was genuine.

A police spokesman said number plate defects could trigger a spot check.

Police forces across the UK are making increasing use of ANPR cameras, which scan a number plate and then search a database of more than 35 million registrations in just four seconds.

If the registration matches one of the estimated one million "wanted" vehicles on the system, an alert is sounded to the roadside police patrol.

ANPR is a vital part of the ACPO's new vehicle database, nicnamed Gatso II.