There has been much publicity about the DVLA and its new roadside cameras which will capture registration numbers of passing vehicles and pass the information to a computer to check if the vehicle is currently taxed.

The technology may be new but the system was first used more than 60 years ago.

A friend of mine who owned a motorcycle in the Thirties told me that he received a summons through the post for not having a current road fund licence.

The facts were correct but he was surprised because he had not been stopped while riding. (In those days, for a prosecution to be successful, it had to be proved the vehicle had been moving on the highway - standing in the road was not considered sufficient evidence.)

He subsequently found out someone had been standing at the side of the road noting registration numbers of passing vehicles.

Records were then checked to see if the vehicle had a current road fund licence.

Incidentally, whatever happened to Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN)? The principle being if a vehicle does not have current road tax and the owner has not declared SORN, automatically by default the owner is deemed to have an untaxed vehicle on the road and appropriate action is taken.

If this is working why are these new cameras needed?

-Anthony Ellis, Brighton