CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s campaign denies a report that aides pulled over a New York Times reporter trailing the former governor’s caravan in New Hampshire, checked his license plates and told him to leave.

In a story profiling Romney in Saturday editions of the Times, the reporter, Mark Leibovich, wrote that while following Romney’s caravan last month, an aide stopped him and told him his plates had been run.

“As we reported, I was instructed to veer off, which to me is the same as telling someone to leave,” Leibovich said in an interview. “I obviously cannot speak to whether they ran my license plate or not. I can only speak to what the person told me he was doing.”

New Hampshire law does not allow private staffers access to license plate databases, nor does it allow campaign staffers to pull over fellow citizens.

Romney spokesman Matt Rhoades on Wednesday said the campaign did not stop Leibovich.

“We will not comment on security procedures for the governor,” Rhoades said.

“We can confirm, though, that at no time was the reporter’s license plate run through a check or was his vehicle pulled over.”

Romney’s campaign said the group became lost on back roads after a May 29 stop at Harvey’s Bakery in Dover. A construction detour confused them, the cars stopped, and the staffer walked back to chat with the unknown car.

The former Massachusetts governor does not have state-provided protection or a Secret Service detail. He does, however, travel between appearances in a motorcade of black sport utility vehicles and his aides wear earpieces.

Also last month, Romney apologized for not wearing a seat belt during a New Hampshire interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer. The two chatted while traveling between campaign stops in Alton and Laconia. At times their caravan of cars reached 65 mph, according to an Associated Press reporter who followed along.

AP-ES-06-20-07 1703EDT