Over two million drivers could be wrongly fined by speed cameras

Mark Harper explains why Sadiq Khan is wrong on ULEZ

Over two million drivers could be slapped with incorrect speed camera fines every day, according to a leading expert.

Professor Fraser Sampson, a Government commissioner on surveillance cameras, warned cameras and ULEZ detectors could identify the wrong vehicles and send penalties to different households.

Mr Sampson warned Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras have around three percent error rate.

This presents a “significant risk” that innocent road users could be issued fines which could be a breach of data protection laws.

Mr Sampson has also stressed ANPR cameras were “staggeringly simple” to deceive by using cloned number plates or plastic tape.  He suggested that as many as one in 15 road users may be using tools to dodge ANPR cameras and evade the law.

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He suggested relying on number plate tools to prosecute motorists was now a “strategic risk” in a letter to Transport Secretary Mark Harper.

According to the Telegraph, the letter added: “Taken together, these risks to ANPR threaten not only the efficacy of local policing and traffic enforcement initiatives but the integrity of a national system which has been so successful in supporting policing and law enforcement for decades.”

ULEZ cameras have been targeted in recent months with many devices pulled apart by activists branding themselves the “blade runners”.

Mr Sampson warned that the cost of living crisis had meant the incentives to “game” ULEZ cameras had “never been greater”.

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The letter added: “I would therefore urge you to give consideration to modernising the way in which vehicle registration, roads surveillance and ANPR systems are regulated generally and to addressing the enduring risks to the ANPR system in particular.”

It has prompted calls for officials to make widespread improvements to crack down on those looking to get away with fines.

Experts have suggested a new certification system for businesses selling number plates to ensure companies are legitimate Motorists caught cloning number plates could also be slapped with increased fines.

A Transport for London spokesperson said: “The London-wide ULEZ is vital in tackling the triple challenges of air pollution, the climate emergency, and congestion.

“The ULEZ camera network has been key in helping to support the effective operation of the ULEZ with air pollution in central London reduced by almost 50 percent and in inner London by a fifth.

“Vehicle cloning is a criminal matter. When a vehicle is suspected of being cloned, there is an established process. Where a vehicle has been cloned, if a penalty charge notice (PCN) was issued, it will be cancelled. The proportion of these cases is low and falling.

“We will continue to work to ensure our systems, which already involve human checks in addition to ANPR data, are as robust as they possibly can be.”

A Government spokesperson commented: “ANPR is a valuable tool to help the police tackle vehicle crime and testing of law enforcement ANPR systems shows high levels of accuracy.

“We keep the effectiveness of police and law enforcement use of ANPR under regular review, to ensure it remains a robust tool for identifying vehicles of interest to the police and drivers who break the law.”

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