Number's Up For Illegal Plates
| Published: 1st February 2008 12:09 |
Number's Up For Illegal Plates
A nationwide police service crackdown on illegal number plates begins today, Monday 28 January, following concern at the growing use of unlawful registration plates by motorists attempting to frustrate the effectiveness of enforcement cameras.
Operation Larch is a week-long national campaign to step up enforcement of current regulations. Police forces across Great Britain will participate in the week, targeting motor vehicles with misrepresented plates.
This seven-day operation will aim to:
- identify any links between the use of misrepresented registration marks and criminality;
- provide suitable evidence to justify changes to penalty levels for related offences; and
- maximise the disruption of criminal activities and reduce crime levels.
Frank Whiteley, ACPO lead on Automatic Number Plate Recognition and Chief Constable of Hertfordshire Constabulary, said:
"Criminals make use of vehicles to commit crimes and in some cases, will tamper with number plates in order to try and avoid detection by roadside cameras. Operation Larch will bear down on this growing concern as part of The Police Service's ongoing campaign to target criminals through their use of the roads.
"It is not known how many motor vehicles display misrepresented number plates or how many are driven by active criminals, but Operation Larch will provide intelligence for the first time on the link between this offence and broader criminality, and inform a debate around the tightening of legislation around number plate offences."
Illegal alterations range from changes to the layout of plates or use of non-standard fonts, through the use of tape, screws, and other objects to obscure plates, to sophisticated measures such as the use of stolen or false number plates to clone vehicles.
The police want to reinforce the message that registration lettering and spacing must comply with regulations which specify the typeface, size, colour and British Standard for plates.
The campaign will highlight that it is an offence to alter or re-arrange letters or numbers in a way that makes it difficult to read them. All stopped motorists will be the subject of a PNC enquiry (Police National Computer). At the end of the campaign figures will be collated from all forces, analysed and findings published.
The law states that:
You must not alter, rearrange or misrepresent the letters or numbers
Characters must not be moved from one group to the other (e.g. A242 ABC must not be displayed as A242A BC)
Offences may result in any or all of the following:
- A fine of up to £1,000
- The registration mark may be WITHDRAWN WITHOUT COMPENSATION
- The vehicle may FAIL the MOT test
Number plates must be replaced if they have been customised with:-
- Stylised letters and/or figures such as italics
- Number plate fixing bolts that alter the appearance of the letters and/or numbers
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras will be deployed during the campaign and officers will also catch offences on digital camera. Checks will be carried out on vehicles and their drivers to establish links to any other crimes.
More details about number plate regulations are available at: www.dvla.gov.uk/media/pdf/leaflets/v796.pdf
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