SIEMENS in Poole has marked 10 years as a key part of London’s congestion charge – processing more than two billion vehicle details in that time.

Siemens ITS was awarded a contract involving the design, build, operation and maintenance of the charging system in 2005.

The technology, which Siemens says had industry-leading security and accuracy, went live in the capital in February 2007.

It involves more than 1,300 cameras installed at more than 300 sites, monitoring multiple lanes without interfering with the flow of traffic. It says performance and reliability stand at more than 99.9 per cent.

Luke Nomington, Siemens’ head of enforcement solutions, said: “On February 19, the system run by Siemens has been live and operational for 10 years and during this time over two billion vehicle detection records have been processed – all with industry leading security and transactional integrity resulting in the highest-performing systems from a driver compliance perspective.”

In December 2014, Siemens won an extension to the contract will last until 2021.

Mr Nomington added: “Recognising the changing world of the enforcement market and the development of emerging technologies, Siemens ITS has invested in the latest generation of enforcement and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) platform, designed and built with the expert knowledge and capability of the company’s Global Centre of Competence in Poole and supported by many years’ success in the market with its enforcement solutions.“

The congestion charge was introduced by London’s then-mayor Ken Livingstone in 2003. The initial £5-a-day charge was later increased to £8 and £10. The law requires revenue from the charge to be spent on transport improvements in the capital.

Transport for London says traffic entering the original charging zone remains stable at 27 per cent lower than 2002, the year before the charge was introduced. This means nearly 80,000 fewer cars enter the original charging zone each day.

The ANPR technology records car registration numbers and looks up their registered keepers on a database provided by the DVLA.

London mayor Sadiq Khan announced recently that older, more polluting cars would have to pay a £10 charge to drive into central London from October 23.