Illegal number plates and lax rules about who can sell them are threatening national security and putting road users at risk, according to a report.
“Ghost” plates can’t be read properly – often due to a reflective spray or coating – and researchers say as many as one in 15 vehicles could be evading automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.
ANPR uses infrared light to check plates against a database. They can highlight a car without insurance, for example, or identify one linked to high-level crime.
They’re also used in London’s controversial ULEZ zone and to police average speed zones.
But the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety (APPGTS), which produced the report, said avoiding ANPR sometimes only requires “nothing more sophisticated than cellophane, leaves, or a marker pen”.
So-called 3D and 4D plates – which have raised lettering – should also be banned to ensure legibility, said the MPs – and cloned plates are also highlighted as a serious problem.
This involves people finding a vehicle of the same model and colour as their own, copying the plate and using it to mask illegal activity.
The APPGTS said many plate sellers are working from private homes or workshops with no background checks and some have convictions for fraud and violence.
It wants the number of licensed sellers “significantly” reduced from the current 34,455 by bringing in higher standards and a more expansive annual fee.
‘Explosive report lays threat bare’
“This explosive report lays bare the threat posed by ghost and cloned plates,” said APPGTS member Sarah Coombes MP.
She said the current system means people “can commit terrible crimes and then set themselves up as number plate sellers with no questions asked”.
“Those selling these illegal plates have gone under the radar for too long,” Ms Coombes added.
The RAC’s head of policy, Simon Williams, agreed “widespread abuse of number plates” needs dealing with.
“Ghost and cloned plates have no place on our roads as no one should be able to drive a vehicle that’s invisible to enforcement cameras or untraceable by the police,” he said.
“It’s vital we introduce new, higher security standards for number plates and those who produce them.”
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The DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) said sellers already have to be registered and there are “robust identification standards for buyers”.
It added: “DVLA works with police and Trading Standards to enforce these strict rules and anyone caught driving with illegal number plates can face up to two years in prison.”
The DVLA said a review of number plate standards is currently ongoing with the aim of banning designs that evade ANPR.
The British Number Plate Manufacturers’ Association said it fully supports the report’s recommendations.
