Microchipped number plates
Electronic
number plates, which
will be "read" 24 hours a day by roadside microwave beacons
and cameras, are to be introduced in 2004. By the end of
2007, the Government aims to have them on every road vehicle
in Britain, writes Michael Kemp.
Each plate will have a microchip
containing details of the vehicle's make, type, colour,
engine, transmission, date and place of manufacture; its
registered keeper; MoT status and insurance validity. False
plates will automatically raise an alert through the police
national computer in Hendon and the Driver and Vehicle
Licensing Agency in Swansea. Computers will be programmable
to find any wanted vehicle. It will mean new number plates
being fitted to more than 29.2 million vehicles.
The chips will cost about £1 each
and a set of electronic number plates up to £35, or more if
a one-off tax is applied to make motorists pay for the
roadside "reading" infrastructure.
The DVLA, which drew up the plans,
is proposing that "the whole system is financed by
taxation". The electronic readers, planned to be on every
road, will cost "an estimated average £1,000 each when
purchased in quantity and placed on existing poles and
gantries". A probable installation cost of about £100
million will be "dramatically reduced" by sharing existing
infrastructure. Marked and unmarked police cars will also be
fitted with the readers.
Electronic number plates will be
fitted by new vehicle suppliers and MoT testing stations.
From the start of 2003, all number plate producers will be
registered by law, under the Crime Prevention Act, and
plates supplied only on production of a vehicle registration
document and proof of entitlement by the vehicle's keeper.
By December 2007, the DVLA aims to
introduce drive-in, paperless automated relicensing, which
will spell the end for windscreen-mounted tax discs.
The electronic plates have been
developed by Birmingham-based Hills Number Plates, which
makes 50 per cent of Britain's registration tags. A
spokesman said: "Relicensing will be like buying a drive-in
hamburger. You will not need to leave the wheel. Just hand
over a credit card and the whole process will be done
electronically." Cash is expected to be accepted.
"Front and rear microchip number
plates are now fully developed at an extra cost of no more
than £1 each to the motor trade. Normally a microchip costs
about £5, but by ordering tens of millions we have
negotiated a considerably lower price.
"Hills is working closely with the
DVLA and expects the go-ahead for electronic number plates
in 2004. Microchip readers will be on the Trafficmaster
(driver traffic information) radio masts that cover the main
road network, and certain camera sites."
By 2004, the DVLA aims to have
merged driver, vehicle and insurance records into a "single
or virtually single" database from which the number-plate
microchips will be programmed. New regulations will compel
motorists and dealers to inform the DVLA within one working
week of vehicle ownership changes
