Safe enough here in the TZ Somerfields - they never employ staff with the smarts to use the technology !

Snorri

It has always been possible to trace the keeper of a vehicle via the DVLA(& it's predeceasers)for a fee-nothing to do with this government or computers

When I worked for the DWP I had a protected registration to stop the customers finding out where I lived

This has got to backfire in terms of customer relations.

I would be furious if I spent a week's worth of shopping there then had a letter like that from them . God, yet another way of making money.

I sometimes wish there was an 'opt-out' button I could press to escape all this madness and merry-go-round.

But alas, the ability to collate such information, on such a mass-scale, and with such ease, and with such stealth, has most certainly not always been possible.

Well it was easy in 1979(pre computer)for a colleague to have her address traced this way-she interviewed someone under caution on the monday(& charged the criminal)& he & his mates assaulted her three days later having traced her through her car reg number(they admitted this to the police & it was confirmed

My car reg is still protected as someone has forgotten to cancel the protection Been left over two years now

One Tesco's just outside of Cambridge has these cameras installed because shoppers and commuters from the city were using the supermarkets carpark and it meant genuine grocery shoppers couldnt get a space.Carparking in the city is very expensive and they obviously discovered that if they parked at Tesco's and paid the £2 return bus fee into the city-it was much cheaper! This particular Tesco 'fines' people £10 which goes to charity and not their account (someone at work got caught out and this is how i know!).

Tesco's wont be able to access anyones details from DVLA's computer,but they would request the info from them.

I realised recently when searching on the internet for a person that there is no such thing as privacy and "hiding" from people it took 3 days and no money to find someone who didn't want to be found, more and more "official " bodies (eg dvla) are using computer technoligy to make their jobs easier, more effiecient and they can now catch tax dodgers without leaving their office! the benefits agency will soon tie in their system to the tax office to check on addresses and occupiers...

anyway back on topic .. I do think they are right to stop "all day parkers" from abusing the car park... but I would be a tiny bit Pi$$ed off to get a letter after I had paid god knows what for my monthly shop.. at their store!!

RAchel

One supermarket in Inverness is fairer - an employee checks your car in and out. If you have a till receipt (right date!), you get your car out free. No receipt - "cash please!"

Snorri

This number plate recognition system can be fooled very easily all that is required to fool the cameras is that they read the wrong numberplate on your car OR read the right numberplate wrongly. The camera is scanning the front of your car and looking for a rectangular shape that it 'thinks' is a number plate.
Most number-plates are at the front and in the middle of the bumper, so that is where the software is going to focus first. It locates the rectangular plate shape first and then makes an attempt to read the characters on it. Provided there is only one thing that looks like a plate, the plate is cleanish, reasonably straight and the characters are the usual font (See below) it will be successful 98% of the time.
It is illegal to deliberately obscure your number plate, or have it very dirty, or remove it, mess around with the fonts, or drive with some of it broken off.
BUT it is not illegal to move your number plate to the extreme right (or left) of your front or rear bumper (picture a new Alfa Romeo Spider which has it to the side) AND it is not illegal to put a six or seven letter phrase where the number plate would normally be - IN ADDITION TO displaying your number plate at the extreme right (or left) of your bumper.
This phrase could be JUDIE or FUKUKEN or BECKHAM or whatever you like. Ideally you want to use letters that look like numbers O and I, but you don't need to use numbers, letters by themselves will confuse the system and if you stick to letters of the alphabet (A-Z) then there is no way the police can claim you are obscuring your numberplate or appear to have two numberplates. You are merely DECORATING your car with a sign and nobody in their right mind would think that a sign that said NOFIVER or BECKHAM was a number plate; although they might be able to legally argue that N0F1VER appeared to be. So stick to letters.

The font used to print all modern number plates in the UK is called the Charles Wright font.
http://www.charles-wright.com/homeset.html

You can download it from the above site for 39 quid once you have the font it is merely a question of making up your 'sign' or signs using a word processor. Make sure your sign has the same physical dimensions as a number plate, same background area and colour, same font size and same letter spacing. Remember you are trying to make your sign LOOK like a number plate to a non-human computer but also make sure that not even the stupidest policemen would be able to claim in court that it was mistakable for a number plate to any human. AND you are also displaying your genuine number plate on the car anyway just shifted to the extreme right (or left) of your bumper but kept facing forward, visible, clean and at the right height (same height from the road as it was before you moved it). If the cameras cannot read it, then Tesco’s had better get some new cameras and software or just scrap the whole scheme.
Your other alternative is to go to a car accessory shop and have them make you up a 'sign' as a number plate. Tell them that you want it for your bedroom door. They will charge you about 10 quid, 15 tops. Get the bolts for it elsewhere. If the shop refuse to make you up a sign up, go to another car accessory shop because you'll soon find a shop that wants your money or better still let your fingers do the walking.
Now logically if it is not illegal to have one girlfriend's name or favourite soccer star on your bumper, then it is not illegal to have two or more. Clearly the more signs you have, the more difficult it is for the software behind the camera to pick the numberplate from the signs. You are going to confuse the hell out of the program. Error....cannot compute !!! The front of your car is going to look like Piccadilly Circus but only for a while.

Here are some ideas for double signs. I am sure the more creative of you can think of even better ones and I am waiting with baited-breath to see what you come up with. Perhaps a tabloid newspaper will give a holiday for two for the most creative phrases.

DOGSEY.COM
FIVER RICHER
CHARGE THIS

So there it is hopefully you'll follow the simple instructions or find a friend who can and save yourself a few quid.

Good luck and don't let them get you down stick it back to them.

Petrol stations have had this techonology for a while - to stop people driving off without paying.

All the petrol places near me use number-plate recognition software