CHRIS BISHOP Twelve cars were seized by police this week in a crackdown on uninsured drivers in West Norfolk. New laws give officers powers to impound cars until their drivers can show they have insured them.

CHRIS BISHOP

Twelve cars were seized by police this week in a crackdown on uninsured drivers in West Norfolk.

New laws give officers powers to impound cars until their drivers can show they have insured them.

Getting pulled over can prove an expensive experience, as police also have the power to impose on the spot fines of up to £200.

Unisured drivers also face having up to six penalty points added to their licences, and a £105 storage charge for any cars impounded.

As well as routine checks carried out by traffic officers in marked cars, police are increasingly using sophisticated ANPR - asutomatic number plate recognition - cameras.

Positioned at the roadside, the cameras automatically scan the number plates of passing vehicles and cross check them within seconds with a national police database. Details of any suspect vehicle are then passed to officers to investigate.

Western Area Roads Policing Inspector Julian Moulton said: “There is no excuse for driving an unlicensed or uninsured vehicle on our roads.

“These individuals are not only evading costs that law-abiding people have to pay, it also means that if they are involved in a collision there would be no financial recompense for the other party - who may be entirely innocent.

“The new legislation has already been used to effect across Breckland and West Norfolk in the past week. It should be a warning to anyone intending to break the law in this way that we will take immediate action.”