With speed cameras, congestion taxes and other impositions on UK motorists exploding in the past decade, more and more drivers are finding it difficult to keep all the documentation the government requires to be in the vehicle at all times up-to-date. Police and Department for Transport officials checked 5973 vehicles during a survey roadblock and found paperwork violations in 28.4 percent of those stopped, double the figure found just two years ago.

This means about nine million UK motorists are not up to date with tax or insurance payments, registration or inspection documentation. Five percent were also driving with improper license plates. Government officials are outraged because without such plates, issuing speed camera citations is impossible.

In response, police throughout the country have been issued with Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) devices that allow fixed and mobile patrols to find potential documentation errors and issue expensive citations.