BUSINESSES on an industrial estate have clubbed together to buy state-of-the-art technology that will help them identify suspicious vehicles arriving on the site.

Companies on the Altham Business Park and Altham Industrial Estate have voted for a self-imposed levy to fund the security improvements, which will see CCTV cameras fitted with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) set up around the premises.

The Altham companies have been working together for some time and a number of security measures have been already been implemented, including a business watch scheme.

The CCTV cameras will be monitored 24 hours a day at Greenbank police station, Blackburn, along-side the current town centre CCTV scheme in partnership with Hynd-burn Council, The Business Environment Association and Black-burn with Darwen Council.

ANPR cameras work by reading' the number plates of passing vehicles.

Images are then fed back to a computer system which checks them in databases.

If this check finds that the vehicle is of interest to the police an alarm sounds which alerts an operative - and a police team can then be instructed to stop the vehicle.

An officer working with ANPR is nine times more likely to arrest someone for crime than an officer without the supporting technology.

Hyndburn councillor Tony Dobson, portfolio holder for regeneration and economic development, said: "Staying at the forefront of crime prevention is crucial for ongoing business competitiveness.

"The Altham companies and their partner organisations have shown great commitment in pursuing what has been a successful outcome in the fight against crime."