It looks, as drivers who like to cruise around a supermarket car park will soon be finding that their number plates will be taken down and displayed on a large LCD screen in the car park, this indicates that they are banned from the car park.
The ASDA supermarket have installed two automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras at a cost of £20,000, in the store car park in Blackwood, Wales.
This is because they have found that some drivers are coming from places like London and Manchester to take part in the local cruises, in fact this has been going on for almost twenty years.
Asda general manager David Evans said, “Car parking attendants will be monitoring car cruisers and issuing them with banning orders on Thursday nights.”
“The store had been losing custom because of the problem.
He added: “Customers feel they drive too fast around the car park, and whenever there’s a gang of youths they tell us they feel intimidated.”
The scheme is due to start within a month, when it is hoped that this problem will then come to an end. Drivers found to be in breach of the new rules will be fined £60, but every time they are caught, it will double up.
Blackwood councillor Kevin Etheridge said, “The town was like “the Bronx” on Thursday nights, and said he had known customers of the Asda who had taken as long as 25 minutes to get into the store from the high street because of cruisers.
Cllr Etheridge added: “I hope it’s going to be properly enforced and monitored.”
Source [South Wales Argus]
