Number Plates News

Spy in The Sky May Track Oxford Cabs

21 February 2011

Oxford taxis may soon have numbers painted on their roofs, if police proposals at a recent meeting with taxi firm representatives are approved. The idea is that they could then be seen by helicopters or maybe even space satellites.

The Oxford cab drivers are, understandably, concerned about the cost of the scheme and possible damage to their vehicles. According to Oxford Licensed Taxi Cab Association secretary, Alan Woodward, "Drivers were concerned that the paint work might start to deteriorate and that it would devalue their cars."

Both police cars and ambulances already have numbers painted on their roofs, but this is for their own monitoring purposes. According to the boys in blue, taxis were, "Occasionally used by criminals." - Presumably rich ones. There again, the underworld are probably not generally averse to travelling by train, boats and planes either. So, the logic would have to be extended to cover every conceivable form of transport just in case.

It is, surely, just a matter of time before your car is required to have its number plate emblazoned in enormous letters and numbers on top. Buses, coaches and lorries would be almost perfectly suited to take a full seven-character registration. A train could, of course, have one on each carriage. Maybe Smart cars would have to go around in pairs to provide the required space and, no doubt, convertibles would have to have the registration repeated on the carpeting in case of fine weather.