Your number's up

Uninsured drivers injure 23,000 and kill 160 people every year in the UK, according to information supplied to Police Review by the National Policing Improvement Agency. This costs insurance companies £500 million and equates to every insured motorist paying an extra £30 on top of their premium.

However, John Dean, national automatic number plate recognition co-ordinator at the NPIA, says use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology and interaction between the NPIA, ACPO and the Motor Insurers' Bureau - a statutory body that deals with uninsured compensation claims - is helping to reduce the amount of uninsured drivers on the roads, penalising those who drive uninsured and making the roads safer.

Mr Dean says: 'In many cases, people without insurance will often not have a driving licence, MOT, tax, or perhaps be disqualified from driving. ANPR can identify this, which can then lead to the detection of more serious crime.'

Since being introduced to the police service in 2002, it has been used to help track down two suspects linked to the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in November 2005. PC Beshenivsky was shot during a robbery in Bradford but ANPR systems tracked the suspects' getaway, helping to convict several people for their involvement in her murder.

Last month, ACPO announced 249 arrests were made and 431 vehicles seized during an ANPR national day of action. Simon Byrne, ACPO chair of the ANPR user group and deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, says the day led to the discovery of a cannabis factory, a stolen vehicle with false number plates thought to have been involved in several burglaries and the discovery of 40,000 contraband cigarettes from Latvia.