Increasing pressure for reform of "failing" system
Back in February 2025, Regtransfers reported the confusion surrounding the term "ghost number plates". No one was quite sure exactly what the phrase meant, as it seemed to get applied to a number of things. The media made things worse by conflating illegal number plates with ordinary variants that DVLA has confirmed are not illegal.
Despite the vague lack of clarity, one thing about which there was wide consensus was that criminals find many ways to avoid detection and identification by the number plates displayed on their vehicles. As things stand, the UK's number plates feature no means of tracking or identification beyond the alphanumeric characters displayed on them. There are no chips, transmitters, transponders or printed codes, just the traditional numbers and letters that show the vehicle's registration number. These have proved easy for criminals to obscure or alter to defeat cameras.
Members of Parliament, motoring organisations and even the number plates industry itself have called for something to be done.
Wheels in motion
Metaphorical wheels were set in motion, largely by a Ten Minute Rule Bill in Parliament on the subject of illegal number plates. The bill was introduced by West Bromwich's Labour MP Sarah Coombes and co-sponsored by Labour MP Paul Waugh. Calls for an inquiry into the situation and how a solution might be found were widely supported by police and by leading motoring organisations. Subsequently, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety (APPGTS), of which Ms Coombes is a member, opened the inquiry, which was funded by the RAC, the British Number Plates Manufacturers Association (BNMA) and the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB).
The APPGTS inquiry published its report, entitled Ghosts on the Road: Tackling the Rise in Illegal Registration Plates, in December 2025.
What is in the report?
The importance of ANPR
The report emphasises the importance of the UK's network of over 18,000 ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras, pointing out that they are indispensable to police and local authorities. ANPR assists in the enforcement of road and bridge tolls, low-emission zones and parking charges, as well as a range of legislation. They aid detection and identification of offenders responsible for speeding, using mobile devices while driving, hit-and-run and more.
The measures offenders use to evade ANPR
At the heart of the report is the perception that the UK's number plate system is too easy for criminals to manipulate. Unlicensed manufacturers and suppliers are numerous, so criminals are able to obtain false number plates, or copies of the plates already displayed legitimately on other vehicles. Of course, if a car displays a registration number copied from another vehicle, then the innocent keeper of that other vehicle is likely to find they get blamed for whatever transgression was committed by the car bearing the copied plates. This practice of copying another car's registration is called cloning.
In addition to the problem of offenders easily sourcing cloned plates from shady manufacturers and suppliers, the report focuses on the so-called "ghost number plates". The term has come to predominantly mean number plates that have been made or modified to be unreadable by ANPR cameras. Specifically by using plastic covers or films, gels, paints or sprays that are designed to alter the reflective properties of the plate, thus making them unreadable by cameras.
Weak links in the supply chain
The APPGTS report concentrates heavily on perceived weaknesses in the number plate supply chain, and in the way the regulation of number plate manufacture and supply are enforced. The report says,
And it is clear: the system regulating the supply and sale of number plates is completely unfit for purpose. With over 34,000 suppliers of number plates registered with the DVLA, and a smattering of officers travelling the length and breadth of the country trying to enforce them, it is no wonder that so many illegal plates are being made, sold and used on our roads."
The DVLA's system of supplier and manufacturer registration also comes in for criticism. The report says that there are 34,455 suppliers registered with the DVLA to sell vehicle registration plates. Many of these suppliers are small, one-man-band operations, working from private homes or small workshops. Many of them do not insist that customers provide the documentation required by the regulations, thus failing to establish that the buyer isn't ordering plates bearing a cloned or made-up number.
Perhaps more disturbingly, some of the number plate suppliers who do insist on seeing documentation have criminal records for offences as serious as murder or assault. The report says,
The evidence that contributors to this inquiry gave was sometimes jaw-dropping. Two trading standards officers from Rochdale told us that there were 600 number plate suppliers in their small patch alone, and countless more were popping up every week. This leaves the DVLA playing whack-a-mole. The Met Police highlighted the fact that these number plates could enable terrorists to move freely around London. National Trading Standards spoke about the criminal convictions that many of the individuals supplying number plates held, and the high risk of identity theft and fraud that this gave rise to, given their responsibility to handle drivers’ personal identification documents."
Even the DVLA itself acknowledged that the situation was unsatisfactory.
The CEO of the DVLA - the body that regulates number plate suppliers in this country - admitted to the inquiry that the UK’s number plate system had got “out of hand."
Weaknesses in UK number plate design
As well as an insecure supplier base, the Ghosts on the Road report specifies problems with the physical number plates themselves. It also states that the British Standard, with which UK number plates must comply, is "open to interpretation". Some of the features permitted under the Standard are considered problematic by those whose evidence shaped the report. These features include so-called "3D" and "4D" plates that feature raised plastic characters instead of the usual flat printed characters.
3D and 4D number plates are not explicitly disallowed by the British Standard or the regulations based upon it. When the previous British Standard was replaced by the current Standard (BS AU 145e) there was some confusion amongst suppliers and manufacturers regarding the legality of 3D and 4D numbers. When clarification was sought from DVLA, the Agency issued a statement saying that raised characters were not illegal provided they met the requirements of BS AU 145e.
At the time of writing, the DVLA's website still states that number plates can have "3D (raised) characters".
The DVLA has evidently reconsidered its position regarding 3D, 4D and other, similar variants. In his evidence to the inquiry, DVLA CEO Tim Moss said,
It was introduced with good intention. We recognise now, a couple of years later, that this problem now has gotten out of hand, and we do need to look at that.
By working with the British Standards Institute, the NPCC (National Police Chiefs’ Council), British number plate manufacturers and others, we hope some time next year to solve the ongoing issue of 4D and 3D plates, because there's even 5D and 6D and 7D plates available these days. So hopefully from sometime next year, we won't be able to get them."
Implications
The inadequacies of the current number plates system already cause quantifiable problems. Number plate cloning alone is becoming more and more common.
A BBC investigation, using data obtained by Freedom of Information, revealed the scale of the issue amongst London's councils. The data showed that cloning had increased by 64% in the three years 2021-2023. The number of cases recorded rose from 22,450 to 36,794 during that period.
And the unreadable ghost plates problem is also increasing. The report states,
The problem has spiralled. Recent reports suggest around 1 in 15 vehicle number plates on UK roads may be illegible to ANPR cameras. In London, 10-15% of traffic offences (around 13,000 a month) were rejected due to unreadable registration plates."
National security
Concerns have even been raised that the weakness in our vehicle number plate system may compromise the UK's national security.
The ease with which illegal number plates can be obtained can interfere with efforts to map organised crime groups. The absence of ANPR data can weaken criminal cases and leave room for reasonable doubt that may prevent convictions.
The report also says,
Ghost plates pose a serious threat to counter-terrorism operations. Vehicles with stealth plates can bypass surveillance systems around critical infrastructure such as airports, government buildings, and transport hubs. This creates vulnerabilities that could be exploited by terrorist groups planning vehicle-borne attacks. Additionally, ghost plates are increasingly used by individuals involved in drug trafficking, grooming gangs, and other serious organised crime.”
Recommendations
The list of recommendations made by the report is fairly substantial. We will list the headline points below.
- Standardise design of registration plates, with security features to bring the UK up to international standards. Ban the use of 3D and 4D plates.
- Significantly restrict the number of licensed sellers via annual fees, regular audits and removal of non-compliant sellers.
- Introduce background screening of suppliers including criminal record checks.
- Educate drivers about the risks of illegal plates and the rogue traders who sell them.
- Mandate compliance checks as part of the MOT.
- Increase the fine and give offenders points for use of an illegal plate and seize vehicles of repeat offenders.
- Ensure police forces have the equipment and training to tackle non-compliance.
- Clamp down on illegal sales and strengthen DVLA powers for prosecution of rogue suppliers.
- Establish a national taskforce on number plate compliance and develop a national approach to tackling broader non-compliance.
- Strengthen and enforce rules around ‘registered keeper’ information to identify vehicle ownership.
Will it be enough?
While Regtransfers supports the purpose of the inquiry, namely to identify the problems with our number plates system and to suggest measures to improve it, we are not yet convinced that the changes set out in the recommendations, even if fully implemented, would put things right.
While the report does refer to what it calls the "show plates loophole", the recommendations do not include outlawing show plates, which are number plates purportedly supplied for use on private land at car shows etc. Show plates are basically number plates that can display any text the purchaser desires. Even if sold for off-road use, criminals would surely have other uses in mind.
There is also the fundamental limitation of a purely visual means of identification. Our plates are primitive compared to those being introduced in some other regions, such as the USA and some African countries. Digital or "smart" plates incorporate electronic measures, meaning simply changing the displayed text may not be enough to hide a vehicle's true identity.
The challenge is real, but we may still be thinking too small to make the difference that is needed.
