ROAD tax dodgers have been left with nowhere to hide after a new campaign was launched.

On Monday, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency teamed up with the police to clamp down on road tax cheats in County Durham.

Clamping teams patrolling the streets found 21 untaxed vehicles in Darlington on the first day alone. And Stingray cameras have been catching untaxed vehicles on the move.

The two-week campaign, is targeted at road tax cheats but other offences such as no insurance and no MOT certificates will also be checked.

John Moore, DVLA enforcement officer, said motorists had been warned about the campaign for several weeks.

"For two weeks we will be carrying out a high profile campaign and will use our cameras and wheel clamping units to target the 64,000 road tax cheats in the North-East who cause a £7.1m loss in revenue," he said.

"Twenty one vehicles were found untaxed in Darlington on the first day of the campaign and were removed from the streets."

He added the agency had found that untaxed vehicles often had a direct link to criminality. The DVLA estimates that there are 3,100 untaxed vehicles in Darlington.

The Stingray cameras automatically read the number plates of passing vehicles and a database link verifies if the road tax has been paid. The result is instantly passed to waiting police patrols who can stop the driver.

Motorists who are wheel-clamped for no tax disc must pay a £200 release fee. If not claimed within 24 hours, the vehicle will be towed away to a pound. The fee then rises to £280 plus £15 per day storage fee.

The release fees include a surety payment of £120 which will be refunded on the production of a valid tax disc. Unclaimed unlicensed vehicles are crushed after 14 days. Prosecution, with fines of up to £1,000 for cars and motorbikes and up to £23,000 for a heavy goods vehicle, is also possible.