I agree about strange fonts, but have no problem with changed spacing. If anything, it often makes it read in a way that is far more memorable and so much easier to report in the event of a hit and run, dangerous driving, etc.
SteveW
Some fonts really are harder to read, both for ANPR and humans (particularly at a glance as someone speeds off). Standardising the font made sense - although, IIRC, it only applies to cars registered after the standard font came in, so older vehicles can still have weird fonts.
SteveW
But probably not for council run car parks and the like that read your plate going in and out and check you have not overstayed or that you have paid from them.
SteveW
If APNR can read them then they can't, in practical terms, be far out-of-spec. If APNR can't then there won't be the means for an automated summons.
I don't know (or care to be honest). At the end of the day it's hardly rocket science to flag up images where the software can't pick out a number plate with confidence. It would be trivial to devise a system which just sent the image to a distribution list of approved employees who could reply with their reading of the number when needed.
I have mixed feelings when cost cutting measures increase the possibility of fraud. Particularly in the official arena.
I am working under the assumption that images that cannot produce a valid number plate automatically are flagged up for a pair of human eyes to check. (We already know that human eyes can be involved at some stage, since people get caught lying about who was driving from the images captured by the equipment).
If I am wrong, and a failed automatic image capture cannot lead to a summons, then we return to asking what the f*ck the everyday police in cars are doing when they see a dodgy plate go past ?
I'm guessing that's why the police don't seem so bothered about it. A rare display of common sense which I sincerely hope will be extinguished before too long in case it starts spreading.
Non-UK plates, which might be entirely to the country of origin's rules, could prove taxing to any ANPR system.
For a while, I had a vehicle in the UK with an Arabic plate...
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