A crime-fighting system is to be piloted in the region after trials elsewhere proved hugely successful.

North Yorkshire, Cleveland and Northumbria police forces are among 23 across the country which will be using automatic vehicle number plate readers.

Nine forces took part in the original six-month trial of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system.

It helped police seize more than £100,000 in illegal drugs and recover more than 300 stolen vehicles and £715,000 in stolen goods.

More than 3,000 people were arrested - ten times more than the national average - with the majority of arrests being for serious crimes.

The system scans number plates and matches them against information stored in databases to identify vehicles of interest to the police, such as stolen cars or those involved in crime.

When a suspicious vehicle is recognised, it can be intercepted so that further inquiries can be made.

In North Yorkshire, the pilot is being led by Detective Inspector Ian Wills who described the system as an invaluable tool in the fight against crime.

The evidence from the ANPR trials has already borne out police experience of strong links between road traffic offences and more serious crime.

Fixed penalty receipts from offences detected through ANPR will help fund the further expansion of the pilot scheme.