CCTV to Record Every UK Car Journey

Mail On Sunday, 1st January 2006
By Christopher Leake, Home Affairs Editor

The government was under pressure last night to halt plans for a new nationwide camera surveillance system that will record the movements of every vehicle on Britain's roads.

From March, the numberplate details of 35million vehicles per day will be stored for up to five years. The database, installed alongside the police national computer at Hendon, North London, will include the time, date and precise location of vehicles using CCTV cameras on main roads and motorways and in towns, cities, ports and petrol station forecourts. Their data will be made available to MI5 and other intelligence agencies.

But the surveillance revolution doesn't end there – face recognition is also being tested. The Driver, Vehicle and Licensing Agency (DVLA) has signed a deal with the US firm Viisage to assess whether the DVLA's database of driving-licence photographs can be used for ‘machine-assisted face recognition.' This technology could then be used to match up images taken by roadside cameras to identify drivers.

Police chiefs claim the vehicle surveillance plan is the biggest advance in crime technology since the introduction of DNA fingerprinting and is designed to drive criminals and terrorists off the roads. But it does not come cheaply – the Home Office has given a £25million grant towards the scheme and it will cost millions more, with much of the burden falling on local councils and police authorities.

Last night, human rights groups demanded a halt to the scheme. Critics said it was yet another example of invasions of privacy such as the recent scandal – exposed by the Mail on Sunday – of how the DVLA has been selling drivers' details for £2.50 a time to companies, banks, lawyers and private detective agencies.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: ‘What we have here is wholesale, mass surveillance of a population. The public should have their say before it's too late, before we make these irrevocable choices about being constantly monitored at huge public expense. The DVLA story in your newspaper really shocked people.'