Motorists pulled over by police face the threat of being fingerprinted from today - further inflaming fears over the growth of the Big Brother culture.
They will be asked to use a hand-held fingerprint reader which will check their identity against the 6.5million recorded prints of crime suspects.
Although the scheme, to be tried out by ten police forces, will be voluntary at first, the Government has admitted it is considering making it compulsory.
It would work in the same way as motorists having to take a breath test to show whether they have been drinking.
Laws would be brought in which would mean criminal penalties for drivers who are stopped and who fail to let their fingerprints be checked.
The extension of fingerprinting to the roadside - at present such checks are made only on criminal suspects in police stations - comes amid growing concern at the spread of public surveillance.
Among controversial developments are the unchecked growth of a police DNA database and the Government's plans for an all-embracing identity card system which would record personal data on everyone in the country.
The growing network of information systems based on credit and store cards and the presence everywhere of CCTV cameras have also added to the general unease.
One watchdog group has already recorded Britain as the most spied-on nation in Europe. Tories warned that roadside tests must not become a means to bring the records of millions who have committed no crime on to the police National Automated Fingerprint System.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "While we have no problem with people voluntarily giving their fingerprints, this must not become a stealth gateway to storing the fingerprints of innocent people on some Government database."
Giving fingerprints at the roadside will be voluntary for motorists for now. But the safeguards provided by the Home Office will be slender.
The only guarantee that drivers are not browbeaten by officers into allowing their prints to be checked will be the police stop-and-search form, which must be completed by officers.
This includes a box in which officers record that procedures were carried out with the consent of the individual stopped.
Home Office officials said yesterday that fingerprints taken from drivers would not be recorded and would only be checked against those of criminals and suspects which are already stored on the national computer.
The Home Office's Police Information Technology Organisation said the new Project Lantern system could save more than £2.2 million a year.
If trials are successful the Government will prepare laws to make it compulsory for motorists to accept fingerprint testing. Police Minister Tony McNulty said: "This trial represents an important step forward in our commitment to ensuring we have an effective and efficient police service fully equipped for the challenges of modern policing.
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