A CRIME-fighting system which reads car number plates has led to 276 arrests and £108,560 of stolen goods being recovered in five months.

Lancashire police revealed the figures as Home Office minister Hazel Blears was shown how the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system worked during a visit to Blackburn yesterday.

The scheme has been so successful in the county, which was picked as a pilot area, that £4.65million is being spent rolling it out to every police force in the country.

The device reads number plates and checks them against the police national computer. Between June and October officers in Lancashire made the arrests for crimes ranging from robbery, theft, drugs, outstanding warrants and driving offences.

Property confiscated included stolen cars, drugs and offensive weapons. ANPR systems can check up to 3,000 number plates every hour on vehicles travelling up to 100 miles per hour.

Number plates are then checked against a variety of databases including the police national computer, DVLA and local intelligence networks.

Ms Blears said: "The success of ANPR in Lancashire has shown that criminals can't hide from the law. This hi-tech tool is helping us make our roads safer, picking up dangerous criminals who are carrying weapons and drugs.

"The system is best used when a combined with the local knowledge of officers so the technology can be used in an intelligent way ensuring honest motorists are less likely to be stopped.

"I congratulate Lancashire for embracing this new technology to make the area's roads and communities safer for the benefit of the law abiding majority."

Ms Blears was in Blackburn for the first time as policing minister. She met members of the local community and local criminal justice board members at Greenbank police station.

Lancashire's Chief Constable Paul Stephenson said: "The minister has always shown a keen interest so we were delighted to provide her with the opportunity to see how we work.

"She was extremely interested in all she saw and I hope she was able to go away with some positive thoughts about policing in Lancashire."