chili-girl wrote:

For a normal CCTV camera (that is linked to a PC capture card) and on
a fine sunny day.

Is there a typical distance you can read a number plate.

Depends on the focal length of the lens ...

Assume you need the plate to be approx 10% of the image width to read
the plate (giving approximately eight pixels per character on the plate)
lets round the plate dimensions up to 1.5', so you need a field of view
of 15' to achieve the plate being 10% of the image.

For a 1/3" sensor you'd need a lens of 26mm focal length to give a field
of view of 15' at a distance of 82', unfortunately your 3.5-8mm zoom
lens isn't going to cut it.