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Super-strength plates handed out to car insurance customers in Halifax

01/06/07

Thousands of car insurance customers and other road users in the north of England have been issued with special licence plates as part of a crime-prevention initiative.

Under the scheme, shoppers visiting supermarket chains Asda and Tesco were invited to take registration plates featuring enhanced-strength screws, which can only be removed by using a unique key, reports the Halifax Evening Courier.

The initiative has been developed in response to a sustained increase in car crime in the area over recent months, car insurance customers may be interested to learn.

According to the newspaper, instances of plates theft have been increasing since August 2006 and local police officers have now decided to take action.

Commenting on the scale of the problem, Ashley Smith, local crime prevention officer, has warned that criminals are known to be targeting vehicles on driveways, city streets and car parks.

Moreover, he has outlined why they are a highly-prized commodity in the eyes of many thieves.

"Very often, a car's number plate is stolen because criminals plan to put them on cars which will be used as a getaway or to make off from a petrol station without paying," he revealed.

"They're also put on to cloned cars or to avoid detection by speed cameras."

Last month, the Watford Observer reported that 13 per cent of all theft incidents from vehicles in the local area now involve stolen licence plates.

On the back of this revelation, the region's police force urged car insurance customers and other road users to alert the authorities as soon as they notice the plates are missing in a bid to boost detection rates.