FLEET vehicles with out-of-date road tax discs are in danger of being caught by a network of mobile cameras which can read the number plates of passing vehicles.

The Government clampdown on road tax dodgers will see vans carrying the new camera equipment parking in lay-bys and on bridges. The cameras will instantaneously check vehicle registration plates against Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency records and store images of the vehicles with no valid Vehicle Excise Duty records.

DVLA staff will operate units which can read plates in vehicles travelling up to 100mph in all conditions. It is estimated that more than a million vehicles are on the roads without a valid tax disc, costing the Treasury about £150 million a year.

The DVLA will initially operate 50 units, but could put more into action if the scheme is successful.