Mixing registration numbers and letter causes police action

Motorists who have made simple registration errors on their insurance applications are being stopped by police and having their cars confiscated, the AA warns.

Mistakes, such as transposing letters or numbers or getting a 0 (zero) and O (letter O) mixed up, may mean that automatic number plate recognition (anpr) technology won't recognise that the car is insured.

Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, says: "We used to get one or two calls per month from police to verify whether a motorist they have stopped is insured for this reason, it's now 20 or more per week.

In extreme cases cars have been confiscated until a correct insurance document can be provided along with a statement confirming the car was insured at the time.

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