Police taking a dim view of tinted car windows are to crack down on Southend seafront cruisers.

A new light-measuring device, known as the Tintman, is going to help police to order cruisers to change their windows or face tough penalties.

Drivers with windows that are too dark will have to have the vehicle "repaired" or they could face fines of hundred of pounds.

However in extreme cases, fixed penalty notices could be issued, or even a prohibition notice that means the car can then be moved only by a breakdown truck until the required changes have been made.

PC Russell Gay, of Stanway and Chigwell traffic police, said that the Tintman equipment currently being used to check drivers in his division would be put to good use in Southend.

He said: "We are going to Southend with this campaign a couple of times a month and it will be put to good use there.

"If you see cars with tinted windows at night, many of them have their windows down, simply because they can't see - it's amazing.

"We are even going to be looking at motorcycle visors to see if they conform."

PC Gay said that guidelines meant that depending on when the vehicle was made, windows had to allow 70 to 75 per cent of light through - but he had stopped drivers whose windows let through as little as four per cent.

Legal tinted windows are subtle and most that look dark are likely to be illegal and pose an unnecessary accident risk, he added.

He said: "Something that looks obviously dark is likely to be illegal. With a legal tinted window, you can't even see the tint unless you look through two of them."

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