Long delays at the Tyne Tunnel as snow interferes with the vehicle registration recognition

Drivers were faced with traffic misery on Wednesday morning as the snow interfered with the Tyne Tunnel's vehicle registration recognition system.

Wintry conditions have made a return to the North East and motorists travelling through the Tyne Tunnel during rush hour were hit with long delays.

The snow was making it difficult for the vehicle registration recognition systems to read the plates and workers had to manually clear it off to help ease congestion.

This issue added to tailbacks already caused by a broken down vehicle in the northbound side of the Tyne Tunnel near to Wallsend.

Heavy snow in Allendale, Northumberland, after temperatures dipped below freezing overnight (PA)

A spokesperson for the Tyne Tunnels said: “All ANPR systems have issues during adverse weather conditions, as the snow obscures the number plate and makes it difficult to read.

“To mitigate the impact on customers, all available members of our team were on the plaza, manually cleaning number plates to ensure they could be read accurately.

“Many areas of the North East were impacted by the snow this morning, and we hope everyone was able to reach their destinations safely.”

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