Spy cameras misreading 1m number plates a day

A NETWORK of ‘Big Brother’ spy cameras is misreading 1.2million number plates a day – meaning innocent motorists could be caught in police investigations while criminals escape scot-free.

A report by Britain’s surveillance tsar has warned of problems with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology, which senior officers insist is invaluable in preventing and solving serious crimes.

Around 9,000 cameras across the country take photos of up to 40million number plates each day.

But Tony Porter, the independent surveillance camera commissioner, said an estimated 3 per cent could be ‘misreads’. This risks false arrests and prosecutions, criminals and terrorists left to move around the roads freely and loss of revenue from fines and vehicle taxes, he said.

He called on the Government to draw up new laws to set minimum standards for the cameras so they are secure from cyber-attack. Each force currently buys its own.

Mr Porter also demanded tighter rules on who could produce licence plates to beat rogue suppliers who design them to ‘defeat the system’. He said a compulsory ‘ kitemark’ should be introduced to certify the make of number plates by 20,000 firms so the ‘ deliberate misuse of plates is easier to manage’.

For instance, the report warned criminals could avoid capture by placing a decoy screw between two number 1s, making it look like an H – duping the cameras.

Mr Porter said: ‘The production of plates is so integral to the system that even stricter controls need to be applied – akin to the production of driving licences and passports – providing the authorities with powers of examination and seizure.’

He said it was a ‘key concern’ that police forces did not know how many ‘misreads’ there were. But he told the Mail estimates suggested it was as high as 1.2million a day.

AA president Edmund King said: ‘While most citizens will accept the police use of ANPR to target criminals, many will question the use by local authorities or private parking companies.’

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘ANPR gives police vital evidence and is more than 97 per cent accurate. There are strict rules for how and who can use the database.’