The super sharp camera system which tracks criminals on the move across Bradford has been so successful it is going nationwide.

Bradford was the first city in the UK to trial the registration plate scanners which can log up to 80,000 vehicles a day.

And now the Home Office is putting up £15m to roll out the system - called Automatic Number Plate Recording (ANPR) - nationally.

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police officers said the Bradford trials had proved they were effective in "denying criminals use of the roads."

City centre Inspector Steve Baker, said the ANPR system was "technology working at its best."

He said: "I admire it and it has proved itself in Bradford. We rarely get cars stolen in the city centre and that is down to a combination of factors which includes the ANPR system. Basically, with it, every single car entering the city is logged. There is no hiding place.

"And as a result we had had many arrests. It is a very effective weapon."

The ACPO spokesman said the system is to be integrated into its day to day activities as a policing tool. He said he expected all forces to have them by October this year.

The ANPR cameras can read plates on vehicles travelling up to 100 mph and even in three lanes of traffic.

There are 18 ANPR units on CCTV cameras across Bradford, forming a "ring of steel" on all the major approach routes. They are monitored by a computer called "big fish" which checks registration against a national database to see if the vehicle is wanted by police.

If the system finds a match it alerts Bradford South Police control room and a £1.3m CCTV centre in Britannia House. There, operators use cameras to follow vehicles around until the police reach them.

There are an estimated two million "outlaw" drivers without insurance or tax. The money raised from the fines will be spent on extending the ANPR even more, says ACPO.