A WALLAN man’s attempts to shift his old car registration to his new vehicle have landed him in serious hot water.

Instead of registering his new vehicle, the man simply took the number plates and sticker off his old car and put them on his new one, hoping no one would notice.

But thanks to new technology in traffic control, Wallan Police did.

Acting Sergeant Brian Russell said on Thursday that the digital technology, which used a camera to “read” a number plate and provide instant feedback in the field, had its first test run in Wallan last week.

“The vehicle recognition picks up any car where the rego is expired and also tells us if the nominated owner is unlicensed, has had their licence expired or cancelled and links to any warrants,” Acting Sgt Russell said.

“It sends the information to the member who is sitting in a van with a computer, and they notify the members 400 metres down the road if there’s any relevant information and those members pull the vehicle over.”

He said the operation had detected more than 50 offences in just 12 hours over two days.

“We had 34 offences yesterday and today we had 17, mostly for unregistered, unlicensed, disqualified drivers; we also got one drink driver and a lot of unroadworthy vehicles,” Acting Sgt Russell said.

“The sheriff’s office also cleared up 15 outstanding warrants.” He said the majority of drivers caught were from the local area and other local motorists should keep in mind that the technology would be used on an infrequent basis across the region.

He said the message to drivers was quite simple: “Register your car, pay for your licence, pay your fines.”

“One car that came through was clamped by the sheriff’s office because they had so many outstanding warrants, and that person will have to pay off some of the fines before they can even get their car back,” he said.

“The driver who put false plates on his car will receive an infringement notice, a fine for $130 and lose three demerit points – he could nearly lose his licence for that.

“And the fine for expired rego is now $584, expired licence is $292 and if you’re caught driving and never held a licence, it’s also $584. It’s just not worth it.”