With cities and communities across the country considering new taxes revenue raising methods to solve congestion problems, they often quote the success of London which introduced a Congestion Charge of approximately $13 a day to drive in the city. London was not the first to charge, but is the largest city to do so, so far.

Two hundred and thirty cameras video roads in the zone. There are also a number of mobile camera units which may be deployed anywhere in the zone. It is estimated that around 98% of vehicles moving within the zone are caught on camera. The video streams are transmitted to a data centre where  Automatic license plate recognition software detects the registration plate of the vehicle. Fines follow quickly if fees are not paid on time.

One side effect has been the increased incidence of license-plate theft - so much that police forces have started to record it as a separate crime. The cloned vehicles are then also used to beat not only the Congestion Charge but also speed and traffic enforcement cameras and petrol station security.

Last year, in the 26 UK police forces that now record the crime, there were 14,176 confirmed thefts of license plates. Latest figures show that losses to petrol station owners from drive-offs, in which cars often had cloned license plates, has risen 4.3 per cent to almost $22 million.

Many people accused by the police of fee-dodging and such crimes are now using the "It must have been stolen" defense, claimimg that they too must have been a victim.

Tales of cloned license plate woe include:

· A 62-year-old woman who was accused of speeding, illegal parking, and for driving away from a petrol station without paying;
· A London businessman who picked up nearly $9,000 in traffic offence penalties, including illegal parking and driving in a bus lane;
· A man who travels into London by train who was hit with bills totalling $13,000 for congestion charge and speeding offences. The car cloned with his vehicle’s license plate entered the charge zone at least 28 times.

Coupled with recently announced systems to track every vehicle in the country, the UK is beginning to learn that such systems rely on the public following the rules.

I wonder how easy Mr. & Mrs. America would accept such systems and how long they would last. 

(Hat-tip to Samizdata for the story idea)