According to a report in the South London Press, baliffs are increasingly turning to automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in their efforts to track down motorists who have failed to pay their parking fines.
A spokesman for Southwark Borough Council confirmed that "it is something they have been doing very actively in the last six months". The SLP's report goes on to say:
"The number plate scanners are set up in main roads and sound an alarm when a wanted number plate is read from the roadside.
"Bailiffs are then able to locate the car and follow it to find out where the driver lives.
"A warrant of execution to recover property, such as the car that sparked the ANPR alarm, can then be issued"
It’s outrageous to think that bailiffs are using ANPR cameras to snoop on all motorists going in and out of the Borough. This technology should be used only sparingly by trained professionals, not by glorified bounty hunters who are then able to follow people to their private homes. Through the new Freedom Bill, which will toughen up the regulation of CCTV cameras and their use by local councils, the Government should take urgent steps to prevent bailiffs from abusing ANPR technology in this way.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but bailiffs are private companies/individuals.
How come they have access to the ANPR data ?
Posted by: Purlieu | 14/03/2011 at 08:40 PM
They shouldn't but somehow they do. An aggressive bailiff will get the support of the police even if the debtor calls them, compounding the problem, oftem in actual breach of the law. problem is the police do nit realise a bailiff is as powerless and ineffective as a PCSO
Bailiffs are a medieval solution looking for a problem, and should be abolished
Posted by: BillyBloggs | 15/03/2011 at 08:43 AM
What's wrong with bailiffs using ANPR to track down debtors? People should pay their debts and quite frankly if it's got to the stage where bailiffs are involved the debtors are probably degenerates who think they can forget their commitments and nobody will find them. But how many small businesses have gone under because of unpaid bills? And how much do local services suffer because of people who refuse to pay their council tax? More power to 'em, I say.
Posted by: josephine | 21/04/2011 at 11:58 AM
If local authorities are sharing info with private bailiffs and private bailiffs are loading info into ANPR equipment then 1) The local authority is in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 and 2) If the bailiff is not a registered as a Data Controller with the ICO then he to is in beach of the Data Protection Act 1998. Both the bailiff and the local authority are committing criminal acts in pursuit of civil debts. In fact a PCN is NOT a debt it is a civil charge which the local authority claims is owed. It is blatantly wrong to be committing acts of CRIME by bailiffs aided and abetted by local authorities in pursuit of such charges. The government needs to take a serious look at this FAST as it will undermine all the goodwill and trust that the public are being asked to have in our Police, Crime & Terrorism which is what ANPR is supposed to be used for - IT WAS NOT MEANT TO BE ABUSED BY PRIVATE BAILIFFS!!!!
Posted by: TJ Grooves | 01/05/2011 at 12:09 AM