Get a Grip!

In a scene that would not have been out of place in a low-budget TV sketch show, a milk float is flagged-down by police cars displaying flashing blue lights. The crime? Not having a valid MOT.

The 'offence' was identified by an over-zealous police computer in Liverpool which failed to match the registration, fed to it by an Automatic Number Plate Recognition [ANPR] camera, to a valid MOT record.

As is generally the case, this was not the result of a 'computer error' but rather the incompetence of the programmer who missed one vital point viz. the provisions of section 47 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, which exempt electric goods vehicles under a certain weight from the annual roadworthiness check.

This fairly common knowledge seemed to elude the police patrolman, who continued to apprehend the vehicle anyway. The bemused occupant was fairly sure he could not have been mistaken for Ernie, The Fastest Milkman in The West, since the float can only manage about 20mph, top whack.

Incredibly, even when it was explained that the float does not require a test certificate, 'PC Jobsworth' still proceeded to issue a notice requiring the non-existent document to be presented at a police station.

Steven Bates, the owner of the fleet of vehicles, reports that such blunders are becoming far from uncommon.

"This is not the first time one of our drivers have been stopped since the police started using this computerised number plate recognition system," he says. "For all I know it could be happening all over the country. It's getting beyond a joke for us because it's a waste of my time having to deal with it.

"I appreciate that it is a mix-up but it seems they are just acting on what the number plate recognition computer tells them without thinking about it. It's amazing that the police officers concerned did not know the law on this."

His view is echoed by Hugh Bladon of the Association of British Drivers who says, "It's extraordinary the lengths the police will go to to make people's lives miserable.

"This is clearly not a worthwhile way of spending police time and officers should be concentrating on catching people who are committing actual crimes, not milkmen going about their lawful daily business.

"It's utterly ridiculous that police officers are now operating like Robocop when a computer tells them something they simply act on it.

"The Chief Constable of Merseyside should get at grip and bring some common sense to bear on the actions of his officers."

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