SOUTH Yorkshire Police has warned fleet operators that it will begin a crackdown on illegal versions of new registration plates from October 1 with fixed penalty fines and a court summons.

Company car drivers who have personalised their new format plates have until the end of the month to replace them with plates featuring the official fonts and spacing.

An amnesty is currently being held until the end of September, when the police will be enforcing the law to ensure registration plates can be easily read when photographed by speed cameras or new equipment called ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) being fitted to patrol cars which automatically alerts officers to stolen vehicles.

Cars with illegally spaced letters and numbers, italics, different font styles and screws or bolts which make the characters less distinguishable will be targeted.

A police spokesman said: 'The ability of police to read number plates, particularly with the ANPR system, is of paramount importance in the reduction of crime and the improvement of road safety.'