WHEN teenager Samantha Davies ran away from home with her 25-year-old boyfriend, her parents and police didn't have a clue where they might be.

The 15-year-old girl packed up a few of her belongings, climbed into her boyfriend's blue Peugeot 405 and headed off from Wales.

For more than a month there were no sightings of the pair.

But last month Lancashire police finally caught up with them using a sophisticated new piece of equipment -- the automated number plate recognition (ANPR) system.

And now, buoyed by the resounding success of the new high-tech equipment, the police force in Lancashire has announced that it has taken delivery of a second ANPR system, doubling its power to keep track of "wanted" vehicles.

Officers found the couple while making routine checks on the huge volume of cars making their way to golf's Open Championship at Lytham St Annes.

The equipment links an in-car camera to an on-board computer, which recognises number plates and is packed with information on vehicles known to the police.

Motorway officers scanned and filtered thousands of number plates of the cars whizzing by.

When a blue Peugeot 405 passed through the system's sensitive beams, an alarm sounded.

Within hours Samantha and boyfriend Arfon Jones were heading back down to Wales and their respective families.

The system was developed in London to prevent terrorist attacks and has been integrated into police cars.

The equipment allows officers to filter a large number of cars while on a normal motorway patrol.

Stolen cars and the vehicles of known criminals are its main target, although its use is varied -- as the case of the missing schoolgirl shows.

Inspector Peter Stas, of Lancashire police's motorway unit, is pleased that officers have such a powerful new tool in the fight against crime.

And on the case of the runaway schoolgirl, he said: "As is normal with missing-from-home cases, their details were circulated to police forces nationally along with details of the car they were believed to be travelling in.

"As a direct result of the ANPR the officers were able to stop the vehicle and thankfully both the girl and her boyfriend returned home to their respective families."

Lancashire police's second ANPR system will mean the unit can be deployed more regularly.

When a vehicle which is on the database is picked up by the system an alarm sounds, which gives the crew an opportunity to take appropriate action.

This may be to stop and arrest the driver or report the sighting for a later use.

With increasing traffic, up to 180,000 vehicles a day could pass through Lancashire's motorway systems. Many of the wanted people who previously could have evaded the police's attention, can now expect to find themselves caught by computer.

During the week of the golf championship more than 50,000 number plates were read with a number of "hits" recorded, including an arrest for disqualified driving.