Oil manufacturer Castrol will use traffic cameras to advise drivers about the right oil for their cars in a new initiative being trialled in London.

Castrol's campaign will encourage drivers to drive past specially installed cameras safely in order to get ‘flashed'.

Rather than identifying cars driving over the speed limit or which haven't paid the congestion charge, the cameras will help drivers by spot checking cars, and will flash a personalised engine maintenance message to the driver on a nearby billboard.

The cameras, which will be positioned by the side of the road, will pick up passing cars' registrations and match them to the make and model of car via the DVLA database.

A message to the driver with the correct oil recommendation for their car's engine will then be flashed on digital billboards further down the road.

The initiative will be the first time in the UK that personalised messages have been communicated on advertising billboards.

The process of registering the number plate to the message appearing on the billboard will take less than two seconds, and due to data protection, no registration plate data will be stored.