According to Auto Express,
Police who use Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras (ANPRs) to catch crooks and road-tax dodgers
could face a legal challenge. The magazine has reported that the Home Office is reviewing the status of ANPRs
after the Chief Surveillance Commissioner advised that they could be operating unlawfully.

It is also believed that ANPRs must be properly signed, warning motorists of their use, or the information
they collect should not be used in court. Sir Andrew Leggatt, the Chief Surveillance Commissioner, says
some ANPRs could qualify as covert surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act,
and would be illegal if the police do not have permission to use them in such a way.

Source: Auto Express (www.autoexpress.co.uk)

Shame in some was as they keep dodgers of the road.

utter shame, i think theyre a great idea. Get tax dodgers off the road. but what do they mean by "crooks"....speeders? i hope not. anything that catches u speeding other than a police car driving with u shud be banned, including cars sat on bridges

Why Scoop? Don't you think there are enough deaths caused in relation to speeding?

There should be more speeding deterrents in my personal opinion.

And if the amount of deterrents is lowered, its basically just asking for trouble.

However, I do agree there should be a higher degree of leniency with regards to speeding on Motorway's and dual carrigeway's... although one could still argue at the end of the day that speed limit's are the law (as well as being in place to keep both motorists and pedestrians safe) and by breaking the speed limit, we are breaking the law...

With regards to legallity of ANPR's, I think it should be put by the wayside, the amount of people without insurance/tax/MOT they catch, far outweigh's any stupid privacy or otherwise laws.

speeding kills? im ALL for speed cameras in accident blackspots and near schools/kid areas. However,cameras on a motorway, no thankyou very much.Germany have it right with the autobahns and i really think we shud have a similar road (m6 north of liverpool all the way to carlilse,and the M74 all the way to glasgow)

What you fail to realise though Scoop, is the german autobahns do have an excessively high rate of accidents. This is basically because people are legally allowed to rag their cars as much as they can. And whilst a Subaru Imprezza might be fairly safe to do 115mph around a bend, it does not mean that your average Ford Escort or Peugeot 206 is.

The speeding laws are there to protect people im afraid. At the moment the government regard 70mph as the maximum speed any car is capable of driving safely on all parts of a motorway. However I do agree that the law is a bit antiquated and should be increased to 80 in the middle lane and 90 in the right lane.

But either way, one thing we can't change is the fact its law, and I suppose the police have every right to enfocrce laws...

The autobahns are built to a much higher standard than any british road, the foundations are twice as deep and they are regulated as to how steep and incline / decline can be, and how sharp any corner may be.

As far as the auto number plate stuff goes I think that was pretty much only used for tax dodgers / mot / insurance / license stuff. Speeders get caught by automated laser / rader, a picture is taken (for evidence) and the reg number obtained from that picture (though this may be automated to save time - I think the original print can be humanly viewed to comfirm detials)