NEW "Stingray" cameras will be used in a bid to clampdown on road tax cheats in Lancashire.

Tax dodgers could find their cars clamped or even crushed as part of a blitz on cheats starting next week.

And wheel-clamping hit squads will be drafted into Lancashire for the launch of the hard-hitting campaign starting on Monday.

Police believe there are 37,000 unlicensed vehicles on the county's roads which amount to a massive £4.5m in lost revenue.

Last year more than 27,000 tax dodgers in Lancashire were taken to court and prosecuted and £2.7m in revenue recovered.

Lancashire Police and traffic wardens, along with other forces in the north-west, are teaming up with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for the crackdown.

The new DVLA Stingray cameras will be employed to detect unlicensed vehicles on the move.

The cameras will operate from vans parked in lay-bys and on bridges. They are able to read number plates of vehicles travelling at well over 100mph and carry out an instant check against central DVLA records. A letter will then be sent to the vehicle owner demanded payment -- or they will face prosecution.

Police are urging motorists to check their tax discs are up to date before they are caught by the enforcement.

As part of the campaign teams from the DVLA will be on 24-hour patrol to spot offending vehicles. Vehicles left unclaimed for more than a day will be impounded and any unclaimed after five weeks could be auctioned off or crushed.

Sixty vehicles were clamped during the last crackdown in the county in June. More than 7,800 vehicles have been relicensed since clamping began in 1997 in Lancashire and £900,000 in revenue reclaimed.

Sgt Allan Bradbury, of Lancashire Constabulary's Road Policing Unit said: "Honest motorists, who have nothing to fear from this campaign, are fed up with those who dodge duty. Often it's a case of no tax, no insurance or MOT either, so we'll be putting every possible effort into supporting the DVLA campaign. The price of being caught without vehicle excise duty far outstrips the cost of a tax disc.

"Motorists face inconvenience, prosecution and big fines, as well as back duty."