The National Union of Journalists has launched a new drive to win acceptance of its press card by police forces around the country.

A publicity campaign will see posters distributed to police stations with the backing of the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Tim Gopsill said: “We’ve been trying for years to get ACPO to agree to a publicity campaign to get the card accepted by forces around the country.

“There have been so many cases of police saying they don’t recognise or accept the card.

“Now, at least, they won’t have that excuse.”

The NUJ is one of 16 ‘gatekeepers’ authorised under the UK Press Card Scheme to issue the cards, and provides more than half of the 30,000 of those currently in use.

The card itself has been updated with two new security features: a code in the background printing and a mark detectable by ultra-violet equipment.

Other ‘gatekeepers’ who are authorised to issue press cards include the Newspaper Society, the British Association of Journalists, the Newspaper Publishers Association, the Periodical Publishers Association, Reuters and the BBC.