5% of cars not taxed or insured

ONE in every 20 vehicles could be on the road without either tax or insurance, according to data gathered by gardaí using new vehicle recognition technology.

A two-hour exercise conducted using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology on the M6 motorway two weeks ago scanned 465 passing vehicles, with 25 alerts highlighting potential tax and insurance issues. Gardaí said the results were provisional, but highlighted the scale of the problem and the capability of the new technology to spot cars that should not be on the road.

The Garda Traffic Corps has 104 vehicles with the ANPR equipment on board. However, a further 30 vehicles are to be equipped with the technology, which also comprises a laser, speed-detection device, in the coming months. The technology reads licence plates on the roads in real-time thanks to on-board scanners, negating the need for slow and expensive checkpoints.