A shocking meeting at Westminster yesterday revealed the true scale of the crisis present in the UK’s number-plate system, which a Labour MP is seeking to tackle by way of a Private Members’ Bill.
Sarah Coombes, the representative for West Bromwich, has introduced a 10-minute Bill that aims to increase penalties for drivers displaying cloned or ‘ghost’ plates on their vehicles from the £100 fine that exists at present, to a £1,000 fine and six penalty points, with taxi-drivers who display fake plates having their operator’s licence revoked.
Cloned plates are number plates copied from a similar vehicle, the registration typically obtained from adverts for used cars. ‘Ghost’ and ‘stealth’ plates are made from materials, or covered in transparent film, that leave the plate legible to the naked eye but block the infrared light that ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras use to read registrations. Both allow vehicles to escape clean-air zone fines, speed-camera-issued penalties, and evade detection by police ANPR systems.
Figures uncovered last month by Forecourt Trader revealed 13% of vehicles used to steal fuel from petrol stations do so with problematic number plates, while data from a leading manufacturer of ANPR cameras shared at the Westminster meeting indicate around 5% of vehicles using the motorway network have plates that cannot be read, with this figure rising to as much as 50% at airports.
While cloned plates are a long-established problem, the number of ghost plates in circulation has undergone an “explosion” in recent years, Coombes said, being linked to the popularity of 3D and ’4D’ number plates that feature raised characters and are a popular modification for cars. Such plates are often made from materials that cannot be read by ANPR cameras.
A senior Metropolitan Police officer present at the meeting revealed that the force’s taxi and private-hire team had found almost 40% of vehicles scanned around central London had been fitted with plates that could not be read by ANPR cameras, with this figure increasing to 48% for such vehicles scanned at Heathrow airport, most likely to escape drop-off fees.
A representative from Transport for London, meanwhile, highlighted that there was a clear difference in the rates of ghost plates fitted to Hackney Carriages, and those attached to Private Hire Vehicles.
These trends are not just a London problem, though. One West Midlands council official told Forecourt Trader that 12% of all vehicles subject to Penalty Charge Notices sport plates that can’t be read by ANPR, while almost 50% of vehicles fitted with 3D and 4D number plates scanned by officers from a northern Trading Standards agency could not be read by the cameras.
These Trading Standards officers also said they had traced vehicles on ghost plates back to areas known to be associated with organised criminal activity, and that they had particular concern with private-hire vehicles being fitted with unreadable number plates. The same officers described that one taxi driver stopped for ghost plates “thought he could get around the fine by opening his boot and pulling out a normal number plate”. The official added: “They know what they’re doing.”
What’s behind the problem?
The UK is unique in its number-plate system, as while many countries have one or two official manufacturers, with strict enforcement of plate production and supply, here, there are more than 40,000 plate manufacturers and retailers registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
A representative from National Trading Standards with a counter-terrorism and policing background said he believed there are just five or six DVLA officers in the whole country working on enforcement for the 40,000 number-plate retailers, while the problem with ghost plates has “got out of control”.
While many retailers are entirely legitimate, and major number-plate manufacturers have been highlighting the issue of ghost and cloned plates for years, countless companies operate outside of regulations. The processes both for registering as a plate manufacturer, and for making the plates themselves, are so elementary that some are headquartered in people’s bedrooms; instances have also been found of multiple companies registered to several addresses on the same residential street.
Some firms don’t, as they are required to by law, check vehicle ownership details by asking to see a V5C logbook when drivers buy a plate. These firms will also typically supply plates featuring banned registrations, or sell ones copied from other cars. Such practices are often undertaken under the pretence that the plates are not intended to be displayed on the road, with the registrations marketed as ‘show plates’.
Other companies, meanwhile, explicitly produce either pre-made ghost plates composed of infrared-blocking plastics, or sell transparent film that transforms a legitimate plate into one that cannot be read by ANPR cameras.
“I was shocked to find out there are over 40,000 registered number-plate suppliers in this country”, Coombes said, adding:
“In some other European countries there’s a single supplier, or there are two or three suppliers. Clearly a system where you have over 40,000 people, and all you have to do to become a registered number-plate supplier is go on the DVLA website and pay £40 – it just seems mad. This is like a passport for your car. I do think we need to look seriously at this whole system.”
Rob Laugharne, chair of the British Numberplate Manufacturers Association (BNMA), which supports Coombes’ Bill, said: “What’s concerning is the rate at which this plate abuse is increasing”. Laugharne added that the trend is being driven by drivers seeking to escape charges and penalties from congestion zones, low-emission zones, toll roads and parking restrictions, which he said “everyone knows are policed more and more by ANPR.”
Sarah Coombes, meanwhile, explained that social media had done much to popularise the rise of ghost plates in particular:
“Just go on TikTok and Instagram and type in ‘ghost plates’ and ‘stealth plates’: there are thousands and thousands of videos, and there are thousands of accounts saying ‘visit this site to buy a ghost plate’. They’re glamourising them, and they’re encouraging people to get them.”
Coombes said that TikTok had taken down “a huge number of videos” after being contacted by her and other MPs, but such posts are “popping up all the time – it’s like whackamole.”
She added that vendors of illegal number plates “feel invincible at the moment”, and that while “there are some really good officers at the DVLA, the idea that six nationally are going to be able to [monitor] 40,000 registered, and then thousands of unregistered [retailers], is just for the birds.”
What’s the solution?
Some place the responsibility of enforcing number-plate regulations with the Police, but with so many registered companies, and illegal plates being so prevalent, law-enforcement agencies don’t have the manpower to tackle the issue at scale.
“We just don’t have enough police resource to be able to chase down every single one of the sellers, which is why we need a system change”, Coombes said.
Describing the UK number plate as “one of the most basic globally”, the BNMA’s Rob Laugharne said: “You combine that with a decentralised component distribution model…and you’re then relying on… over 40,000 suppliers registered – and they’re just the registered ones – you’ve got a whole raft of unregistered suppliers, to assemble and record details of who they’re supplying plates to, and it’s not surprising that this has totally overwhelmed the enforcement team at the DVLA, and it’s got totally out of control.”
The BNMA has gone so far as to fund a number of cameras to help local Trading Standards officers detect ghost plates. The organisation also, together with the Home Office, the National Police Chiefs Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, contributed to a 2020 report led by the DVLA and then Surveillance Camera Commissioner Tony Porter that was sent to the Department for Transport.
This report recommended nine changes to the UK’s number-plate system, including an annual fee for being a registered number-plate producer (at present a one-off £40 fee is charged); tougher checks for registered vendors; the introduction of watermarks and overt or covert holograms to plates; closer control on the supply of plate materials; and stiffer penalties for those sporting illegal plates on their vehicles.
“Our frustration as the industry is that the recommendations that were made over five years ago have never been implemented”, Laugharne said, adding that these measures “could be implemented easily”. Because nothing has been done, however, Laugharne said “there has been an explosion in plate abuse, creating a wild west”.
Will the government take action?
Sarah Coombes began the meeting by saying: “My eyes have been opened to the importance of what some people call the humble number plate” and that hitherto, “politically, we haven’t had a lot of focus on this, and there’s not wide awareness aside from among criminals.”
She later revealed, however, that having learnt about the matter in detail, she had subsequently been engaged in conversations at the highest level.
“I’ve met with Lillian [Greenwood, Minister for the Future of Roads], and with the Policing Minister, Diana Johnson, and I spoke with the Home Secretary, and the Transport Secretary, and the Prime Minister.
“I think in terms of the new government, there is will”, she said, adding, however, that while there was already general awareness of the issue of cloned plates, where ghost plates are concerned: “To be honest, I think probably all of those people were completely unaware of this problem until six months ago.”
She continued: “We need a systemic approach, which is why the letter [that was sent to Government] is not just about the specifics of ghost plates, it’s about the wider way we issue number plates in the country, which is going to continue to be important for years and years to come, and is clearly broken right now.”
Forecourt Trader contacted the DVLA for comment, asking if six enforcement officers was sufficient to monitor the 40,000-plus registered plate retailers. The organisation said:
“DVLA is committed to ensuring all number plates are displayed correctly and legally. We work with the police and Trading Standards to take action against suppliers who do not comply with the law.
It added: “A legitimate supplier will always ask to see ID and entitlement documents before selling a number plate. Where this doesn’t happen, members of the public can report this directly to their local Trading Standards.”
