People scanning number plates

[tdirob]

A friend at work has just been quizzing me about the above:

apparently when he got home last night there were a couple of people walking down the road scanning car number plates with a hand held device. They were going into peoples driveways and didn't stop or seem bothered when my friend saw them.

Any idea what they were doing? as I haven't got a clue - surely if they were going to steal a car they'd just pick the best one and go for it.:confused::confused::confused:

[Quinten]

Mobile ANPR? No idea if such a thing exists? Maybe the DVLA are looking for untaxed vehicles?

[tdirob]

that was my other thought, but he said it was about 11pm last night!

[Goochie]

Reminds me of Gone in 60 Seconds where they photograph cars before stealing them.

[mannyo]

that was my other thought, but he said it was about 11pm last night!

Best time to go round, once everyone is home. Doing during the day half the cars wouldnt be there.

[jec]

I'd ring police and see if they know anything about it:confused:

[EddyH]

The DVLA ad on TV though says that among other places they don't need to look on peoples drives as they just let a big box with flashing lights called the DVLA database do it.

[Goochie]

Perhaps your mate needs a new pair of glasses and they were actually doing something else ?

Looking for their lost cat with a torch, perhaps ?

[LJ_Matt]

I'd definately complain to the police and dvla about this if it happened near me :eek: .

Fair play if it's legit but I can't see how they can just wander round collecting number plates like that?

Maybe I'm paranoid but anyone caught taking too much interest in either of our vehicles would be on the receiving end of a few F's and C's from me .

I'm with the americans - Bang! "Stop or I'll shoot again!" :P

[mannyo]

The DVLA ad on TV though says that among other places they don't need to look on peoples drives as they just let a big box with flashing lights called the DVLA database do it.

Thats true as long as the car has a registered keeper, but as is the case these days so many cars have no current keeper. Visiting unanounced that can catch quiet a lot of these. Our local council/police/dvla have co-ordinated their efforts around where I live, and each time they have a purge its surprising how many cars they catch. They need to visit like this, otherwise everyone who knew about it with something to hide will just move / hide the car elsewhere.

[Taztastic]

Definately dodgy at that time of night and going into driveways is trespassing, not a DVLA tactic, they have no power over a vehicle on private proerty if its not taxed.

Could the scanning device be detecting alarms or sat navs??

Taz

[Goochie]

Could the scanning device be detecting alarms

Good point - it coul dbe a device to attempt to unlock a car. Walk up the street with it scanning away and hope at least one car unlocks.

[cheezemonkhai]

Get the fuzz onto it, sounds dodgy to me

[tdirob]

right, he's going to ring the police tonight, i think you've got him worried now!

[cheezemonkhai]

My advice would be if he has a disklock or somethign big and solid like it to use it.

[heresmo]

Assuming they weren't wearing hoods and masks, I'd have been inclined to ask them what they were doing. I'm not sure what the police could do though unless they caught them at it, but if your street has already been "done" it's probably unlikely that they'd come back? It'd be interesting to learn if the police had had any other reports of similar suspicious activity though.

Hopefully you'll let us know if you get any further in identifying what's going on?

Regards

Mo

[unclefester]

with specific regard to taxing .....

If the car is on your drive and untaxed you have to declare it as SORN otherwise you are still liable for the tax as if it was parked on the public road.

As for what that lot are up to with scanners, sounds well dodgy to me - might be for plate cloning or something - not sure what you can reasonably do about it other than inform the police.

[ScoobyChris]

Google turned up the following link: Number plate scanning vans in car tax crackdown - Public Sector - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com

So it seems NCP are helping out with ANPR. I wonder if they get bonuses for additional clamps so they might be putting in a bit of overtime?

Chris

[unclefester]

that's potentially a legal minefield especially if your car is on private property ....... could be interesting times for some !

[mannyo]

Interesting link posted by Chris. Dont forget that a car once SORN'd is although unlicensed technically legal as long as its on private property as the DVLA are aware of its status. The issue is with those that have expired tax discs and the dvla un notified, then even though the car is on private property technically the car is still illegal.

[cheezemonkhai]

The issue is with those that have expired tax discs and the dvla un notified, then even though the car is on private property technically the car is still illegal.

Which IMHO is a joke. I know some people take the ****, but others don't. This is just a new thing required to make the programmers life easier when (badly) designing a government IT project.

[EddyH]

Interesting link posted by Chris. Dont forget that a car once SORN'd is although unlicensed technically legal as long as its on private property as the DVLA are aware of its status. The issue is with those that have expired tax discs and the dvla un notified, then even though the car is on private property technically the car is still illegal.

...but is entering private land to scan a number plate without the land owners permission legal?

[leon1p]

No organisation would do anything that raised suspicion or gave people cause for concern.. Loitering outside someone's house and approaching their property unidentified could probably be seen as a breach of the peace. They would probably require a warrant to inspect any land where they believe an unlicensed (non sorn) vehicle to be stored.

Also I don't think DVLA are interested in non sorn'd vehicles on private property as they just fire off a fine to the registered keeper. There only concern which requires active spotting is vehicles on the public highway.

From the sounds of the people who were seen "scanning" plates or whatever it was they were doing it sounds like they were up to no good.

[MarkyMarkD]

As has previously been posted, the problem is that a large percentage of vehicles don't have any (current) registered keeper.

So, the computerised "catching" of those who fail to renew car tax doesn't work.

So I can see why they would find it worthwhile to go round "spotting" registration plates even on people's drives.

[P.G]

Google turned up the following link: Number plate scanning vans in car tax crackdown - Public Sector - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com

So it seems NCP are helping out with ANPR. I wonder if they get bonuses for additional clamps so they might be putting in a bit of overtime?

Chris

Chris,

Stop trying to cloud everyones paranoia with facts !

LOL! No wonder the police have no time to catch real criminals.