A dozen illegal drivers caught every day

3:35pm Thursday 9th August 2007

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Every two hours a vehicle is seized on county roads from motorists driving without a licence or insurance.

Sussex Police stopped and confiscated 337 vehicles last month alone after using cameras to scan number plates and identify offenders.

Motorists also received £200 fixed penalty fines and had six points added to their licence, or were summonsed to appear before magistrates to face driving offence charges.

Inspector Mark Trimmer, of Sussex Police, said "It is becoming very apparent that many people are still prepared to take the risk of driving without a licence or insurance.

"Through continued activity of our patrols, we will continue to target these people.

"My message is, if you drive on the roads of Sussex without the necessary documentation, be prepared to lose your car."

The force's road policing units and the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) unit launched a crackdown on uninsured and unlicensed drivers in July.

The ANPR cameras are linked to the DVLA and insurers database.

In seconds they check number plates against the database and alert police patrols if vehicles are listed as having drivers with no licence or insurance - or who are wanted in connection with other crimes such as drug dealing and violence.

The technology was initially developed to help with counter-terrorism work and played an important role in the security operations for political party conferences in Brighton.

Around 200,000 number plates every day are scanned by the 35 online cameras across the county. There are plans to expand the scheme during this year with more than one million vehicles being screened everyday.

Sussex Police plan to invest £3.5 million in the scheme over the next three years.

Road policing cars in every area of the county will be fitted with the technology.

A mobile camera unit allows police districts to target hotspots and active criminals.

According to Home Office statistics, uninsured drivers are ten times are more likely than insured drivers to have a drink driving conviction, six times more likely to be driving an unsafe vehicle and four times more likely to have a driving without due car and attention conviction.

Last month, The Argus reported the vehicle recognition technology had helped police make 600 arrests between April 2006 and March this year.

Cocaine and crack cocaine with a street value of £34,000 and criminal assets worth more than £300,000 had also been seized using the equipment.

The arrests include a suspect in an attempted kidnapping in London and an active burglar.

Last year, an additional 412 suspects were arrested by the ANPR mobile unit.

Between April and the end of June this year 43 arrests were made because of checks by the ANPR cameras in Brighton and Hove.

During this period, 15 stolen cars were recovered by the system, including a Mercedes sports car worth £80,000.