Trials for super-spy cameras

Secret trials of cameras for the extension to the congestion charge zone are under way.

Powerful new digital cameras are being tested at two sites.

They can read thousands of number plates in minutes.

Officials say the trials are vital to ensure that if the westward extension is approved by Mayor Ken Livingstone, the new cameras are ready to go.

But critics say the scale of the trials suggest the extension is poised to proceed despite widespread opposition.

Critics question why the trials are going ahead when the decision on extending the zone will not be made until September.

They say the earliest it can be rolled out to Kensington and Chelsea is 2007 - by which time the technology could be dated.

One Transport for London (TfL) insider said: "The extension-might not have been approved but it looks as though it is going to go ahead. These are heavy-duty trials. It seems it is being steamrollered through."

The cameras have been installed in west London on the A312 Hampton Road West near Apex Corner and on Commercial Street in east London, between Wentworth Street and Pomell Way.

They are more powerful than the CCTV cameras enforcing the ?5 charge - soon to rise to ?8 - in central London. Officials are testing accuracy as the cameras read thousands of number plates in quick succession; they are said to be highly impressed.

The units use digital technology instead of the analogue system in the existing zone. They are more accurate and are not affected by the weather. Insiders say they can zoom in with far greater clarity than any previous-traffic camera, and they are believed to be able to read foreign plates.

TfL insists it has no plan to charge for motorcycles but the devices are better at reading the square plates on two-wheelers.

The cameras are linked to computer software that analyses images quickly.

It will reduce the time officials spend visually scanning images of number plates, to check that the computer has correctly read them. A TfL spokesman insisted that no decision had been made on extending the congestion charge westwards.

He said: "We started the procurement for the western zone should it get the go-ahead, and we are seeing what technology is available. We have to make sure it works in practice."

TfL confirmed the cameras were filming, but all images were deleted immediately.