Big Brother is watching you: The town where EVERY car is tracked by police cameras

By Anna Edwards

Last updated at 4:19 PM on 29th July 2011

A sleepy Home Counties market town has become the first in Britain to have every car passing through it tracked by police cameras.

The automatic number-plate recognition system will check the plates against a variety of databases, studying them for links to crimes, and insurance and tax records, and alerting police accordingly.

While some business owners say the town will be safer as a result of the Hertfordshire Police scheme, other say it is the start of a 'slippery slope' where the innocent are monitored unnecessarily.