speedking

Saw on the BBC this morning that the DVLA are now using ANPR cameras to catch foreign drivers who are untaxed and potentially uninsured. Article here. Not only is this a good thing because it treats foreign drivers the same as we UK citizens but;

Foreign number plates have a variety of fonts and character spacings, different foreground and background colours, various font sizes, unusual symbols placed at various positions, different requirements for borders and plate sizes, etc.

If the ANPR is now so good that it can differentiate this lot to be able to identify a registration and spot the transgressors, then surely it won't be long until UK drivers are allowed to use different fonts, colours, character spacings etc. on our numberplates

as if.

SJ_Skyline

Love to see it work on one of these

Turbo2

Quote from article: "But some of the vehicles seized have been described as "death traps" by NCP Services - the company which enforces the law. In one west London pound, a Lithuanian transit van had bits of its bumper hanging off and only one wing-mirror. "

I see dozens of UK-registered vans like that every week and many in far worse condition. A flappy bit of bumper and 1 wing mirror hardly constitutes a "death trap" does it?

SJ_Skyline

Flappy bit of bumper and one wing mirror... Wonder if he's ever seen a Ferrari Testarossa?

boxst

I don't see how that is going to work. There is no way that it will link to the foreign databases to check tax and insurance.

Steve

PeteBrant

Wel lots of European countries dont have road tax anyway.

It reads to me that this is going to be used to find people that should have paid road tax on a car used on UK for more than 6 months. Police will be able to see exactly when a car entered the UK and therfore see whether those people should have paid tax or have UK insurance

GC8

Exactly, when you cut through the spin (spun mostly by NCP), theyre checking whether a car has been in the UK for longer than six months. Where the ANPR system hasnt captured it leaving the country within six months, theyre liable to be registered and taxed here.

scoobynutta555

From the brief report I saw, IIRC after six months of being here they have to pay British road tax. So, I'd imagine, rather than link to foreign countries they link to a previous UK database of when they first arrived. I'd also imagine they'd need an mot and insurance after the 6 months.

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

I work in this field - there is a lot that is possible depending on the ANPR engine used.

It is possible to work with White lists (lists of properly registered taxed cars) if the VRM isn't on the list it gets alerted or black lists (vehicles known to be SORN'd, untaxed, uninsured etc) where an alert triggers if a VRM is on the lists.

The best ANPR software utilises neural network technology to enable it to learn the valid formats of new plates. Currently the majority of European conuntries are already enabled for detection.

boxst

The car is not registered upon entry, so it is virtually impossible to tell how long it has been in the country.

A friend of mine got asked to abide by the 6 month rule (her car had been here for 2 years), but the only reason is that she drove past a Police Station everyday and it was a bright pink Corsa. Not surprisingly they noticed! They were very nice about it and just told her quitely to sort it out.

Steve

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

it does if the flappy bumper flaps off and hits a pedestrian

Leslie

It is however an indication of the state of the rest of the car when you think about it.

Les

scoobynutta555

So how have they nicked over a thousand foreign drivers using this technology then?