Owners of cars with loud exhausts in the United Kingdom are now potentially under threat of being fined for noise breaches, as the UK’s Department of Transport rolls out its new noise-detecting camera system.

According to Evo, Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan has confirmed the cameras will initially be rolled out in four locations across the country as a trial over the next two months, with more locations to be added if it is deemed successful.

The cameras will be set to a noise limit of 74dB, and will employ a combination of a still photo and the maximum noise level recorded by an offending vehicle to create a package of evidence against the accused.

Bradford will play host to the first set-up, with Bristol, Great Yarmouth and Birmingham taking the other three cameras over the course of the trial.

This isn’t the first time the UK Department of Transport has taken on a trial like this, having run the first in 2019. The biggest difference this time is that, unlike the first trial, which only resulted in warnings to owners of offending vehicles, offenders under the new scheme will be fined.

The trial is being financed by a £300,000 (AU$536,181) government grant in an effort to tackle noise pollution in the country.

The news comes just a week after a man in California had the registration pulled on his standard Hyundai Elantra N (sold here as the Hyundai i30 N sedan) when police asserted he was driving the car on the street with the standard exhaust in ‘track’ mode.

The car was sent to be tested in California for noise compliance, where it failed for allegedly being too loud. However, according to thedrive.com, the test was allegedly done incorrectly with the car in ‘sports’ mode, when it should’ve been tested in ‘normal’ mode for the exhaust, as stated in the relevant testing standard.

In New South Wales, the current legal limit for street-driven vehicles is 90dB.