Candid camera – Police operation seizes 19 cars

Published: 20 August, 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB

POLICE have seized 19 cars and £3,000 during a day-long car number plate monitoring session in Holloway.

Using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, which match registration numbers to criminal and motoring records, St George’s Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) officers stopped more than 250 cars in Parkhurst Road, Holloway, on Tuesday, August 3.

In all 19 cars were seized and 19 people fined for driving and traffic offences.

Five people were arrested on suspicion of money laundering and immigration offences, and £3,000 was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

A further five hackney carriages and eight private hire cars were stopped for being unfit for use. 

PC James Burgess from St George’s SNT, who led the operation, said: “This was a successful operation and part of our commitment to tackling vehicle crime and denying criminals the use of the road.”

The operation was supported by Islington Council and Met traffic officers.

Islington Council’s environment chief councillor Paul Smith said: “This great work with police took dangerous cars off the road. We won’t put up with crime in Islington and are working hard to tackle it.”

ANPR cameras can scan the number plates of up to 3,000 vehicles per hour. Images are then fed into a computer system to check vehicle insurance details and see if they are linked to any crimes on police databases.