The Government has denied it has any plans to introduce a ‘spy in the car’ black box system or is anyway involved in its development.

National newspaper reports suggested that the Cooperative Vehicle Infrastructure Systems (CVIS) project would be used to create a European-wide vehicle surveillance system.

CVIS, a £36 million EU initiative, would be made mandatory in all new cars and make speed cameras obsolete as speeds could be constantly monitored, they claimed.

But, a Department for Transport (DfT) spokesman said that it had “absolutely no plans to require the installation or use of any technology to monitor individual vehicle movements” and it was “not involved in any work to do so”.

Instead, the DfT maintained that CVIS was simply a “research project” exploring the potential of technologies to “assist drivers, improve road safety and bring environmental benefits”.