Gatso gets drivers through the post

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 39

Gatso gets drivers through the post

If you break speed limits as a matter of habit, you had better be careful if you ever drive through Nottinghamshire, England.

The police there are experimenting with a new device called Gatso, which photographs the rear of a speeding vehicle. It notes the time, date, direction of travel and speed. The driver only knows he has been “nicked” when he gets a speeding ticket through the post. The police will have found his address from the vehicle licence computer at Swansea. For the time being, the Dutch - manufactured device — already widely used on the Continent — is being tried experimentally. Before it could be used in earnest, the law would have to be changed slightly. At the moment, the owner of a car caught by Gatso could say: “But I wasn’t driving it.” Chief Suuperintendent Roger Storey, head of Nottinghamshire’s police traffic department, said, “If the law were changed the owner would find it in his interests to disclose who was driving at the time.” “Otherwise, he would have to pay the penalty and collect three penalty points on his licence.”