Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years.

Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years.

By next March a central database installed alongside the Police National Computer in Hendon, north London, will store the details of 35 million number-plate "reads" per day. These will include time, date and precise location, with camera sites monitored by global positioning satellites.
I usually drive a car only a couple of times a week but this whole idea leaves me very nervous.

And why should they stop at cars?

And will they?

Check out the full details of this scary report in The Independent's online edition.

Then let us hear your views.

Bob