Police warn drivers with misrepresented plates

[Wizzo]

A nationwide crackdown on illegal number plates begins today with motorists facing fines of up to £1,000.

Operation Larch is a week-long national campaign to step up enforcement of current regulations and officers will target vehicles with misrepresented plates.

Illegal alterations rangefrom 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.

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.’

Police warn that not only do drivers face fines, their registration mark may be withdrawn without any compensation, and cars may fail their MOTs.

[CrazyHorse]

bloody cameras. Capt gatso must have been round by us a few weeks ago cos a few of the cameras got destroyed, and theyve still not been replaced

god bless u Capt Gatso keep up the good work