An increasing number of countries are introducing RFID number plates in bids to reduce crime involving number plates and cars. In this article, we look at the technology, the potential benefits offered in terms of reducing plate cloning and other offences, as well as the associated privacy issues that may concern UK drivers.
A high-profile problem
Number plate cloning/car cloning has been in the news constantly for a few years now. For those who aren't familiar with the terminology, cloning is the practice of illegally copying a car's registration number onto duplicate number plates and then using those plates to disguise a different vehicle.
Cloning is used in various crimes, including fuel theft from filling stations, evading tolls and congestion/emission charges and many others - some very serious. As the false plates on the clone vehicle display a registration number that legally belongs to another car, it is often the driver of the car with the original genuine plates who gets accused of the offence in question. In many instances, motorists end up paying fines and charges for transgressions they did not commit. Thousands of cases are reported every year, and it can be very difficult for innocent drivers to prove that it wasn't their car that was involved.
Rants, reports and recommendations
A number of concerned and very vocal MPs have raised questions in parliament about the menace of fake and cloned number plates. Consequently, in December 2025, a report was published by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety addressing the problems of car cloning and number plate security. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report, entitled Ghosts on the Road, may be read by following the link.
In brief, the APPG's recommendations are to:
- Overhaul the registration plate sale system in Britain
- Standardise the 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.
- Improve awareness and compliance
- Increase the fine, give offenders points for use of an illegal plate and seize vehicles of repeat offenders.
- Mandate compliance checks as part of the MOT.
- Strengthen enforcement and detection
- 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 be able to identify vehicle ownership.
Although the report makes a number of (mostly practical) recommendations, additional measures that are being adopted in other countries, and that may be far harder for criminals to defeat, are omitted completely.
Missing teeth
While the recommendations listed in Ghosts on the Road would no doubt reduce the number of cloned plates, it is unrealistic to suggest that they would eliminate the problem.
More stringent control of the supply chain assumes that criminals source their bogus plates through the official supply chain. The truth is that anyone with a decent colour printer and a sheet of clear polycarbonate from B&Q can make a fake number plate that will pass all but close scrutiny.
Increased fines and licence points only deter those who fear getting caught. The penalties for the crimes in which fake or cloned plates are used carry much stiffer penalties. If crooks are confident enough to risk those consequences, a number plate fine is hardly going to divert them from their plans.
Compliance checks during MOT inspections are only useful if someone is daft enough to submit their car for the MOT test with fake plates still fitted.
The only item in the report that really seems to have teeth that could really bite is the prospect of having a vehicle seized. While it would make little difference to serious criminals, who are very likely to use stolen cars in the course of committing crimes, it would surely give pause to those using cloned plates on their own cars in order to dodge tolls and congestion/emission zone charges, or to drive off without paying for fuel. However, to deter even those drivers, the seizure would have to be permanent and the car be either sold or crushed by the authorities.
Currently in the UK, vehicles seized by police for offences such as driving without MOT or insurance can be claimed back by the owner/keeper within a limited period subject to the required documentation being produced and a charge being paid.
Lessons from abroad
The UK isn't the only country that has a problem with fake or cloned plates. Several countries have adopted number plates using technology to make them easier to check and harder to fake.
In the USA, some states have adopted the use of digital licence plates. Digital plates use screens to display the car's licence plate number. Instead of characters being physically printed or embossed, they are displayed with similar technology to that used in ebook readers such as Kindle.
The advantages are that they can be updated remotely, so they can display more than just licence plate numbers: if a car is stolen, the service provider can instruct the plate to display an appropriate message to alert witnesses and the police. If the car's owner buys a vanity plate number, the car's plates don't need to be physically changed; they can just be updated to display the new number. Some digital plates also incorporate tracking technology.
One of the disadvantages is that digital plates are expensive. They cost from about $800 to buy and then there are annual or monthly subscription costs to pay. Another problem is that they are currently only approved as an option for issue in a handful of states. It is, however, legal to display them in all 50 states, provided they were issued in one of the few states that has officially adopted them.
A more widespread option is RFID (Radio-frequency identification) number plates. This is a less cyberpunk option, less glamorous than digital plates but much more affordable and potentially still effective. This solution has been implemented by several countries, including Azerbaijan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Kenya, Honduras, and the Cayman Islands.
What are RFID number plates?
RFID is a technology that uses radio waves to exchange signals and data between transponder tags and RFID reader devices. RFID tags are commonly used to track inventory in shops, warehouses and factories. You may have seen them attached to goods in your local supermarket: they can look like a small plastic or metal bar, like a tiny circuit board or even like a cardboard label.
Whatever the appearance, the tag contains a microchip and an antenna. The microchip stores and processes data, typically a stock or serial number. The antenna enables an external RFID reader to access the data stored in the tag. The reader sends an interrogation signal and the tag responds by transmitting its data to the reader.
RFID tags can be small enough to easily fit into or onto a car number plate.
Implementations vary from country to country, so the features mentioned in the following lists of pros and cons are those that can, or could, be included in an RFID-equipped number plate system using current technology.
Advantages of RFID number plates
- Based on a familiar, proven technology. Some companies already manufacture RFID plates.
- RFID plates can be used to check the identity of the bearer vehicle remotely and without stopping the car.
- The signal the RFID plate transmits to the reader device can be associated with, and checked against, a separate RFID tag fitted inside the car to ensure that the plate is the one legally registered to that vehicle.
- RFID will function even when ambient conditions such as rain, snow, fog, lighting etc may make visual checks difficult, and even if the plate is dirty or has been covered up with a rag or similar.
- RFID can incorporate a range of security measures to make theft, copying or hacking extremely difficult, and would make plate cloning and theft troublesome and much less practical for criminals.
- Even though RFID would almost certainly make number plates more expensive, it would be much less costly to the driver than purchasing a fully digital number plate with its associated, ongoing subscription charges.
- RFID could make enforcement of traffic laws, congestion charges and tolls etc less reliant on cameras, meaning that the very specific reflective properties of plates may become less crucial. This could open up the possibility of cheaper manufacturing materials and methods to help offset the added cost of the RFID capability.
- RFID number plates shouldn't present any obstacle to the continued availability and use of private registrations.
Disadvantages of RFID number plates
- RFID number plates would very probably be more expensive than the current standard, plastic plates.
- Possible data and tracking features may raise privacy concerns for some drivers.
- Data reading and processing infrastructure would require capital investment by government and/or private commercial entities.
- Changes to law and other regulations would be necessary to permit the use of RFID plates.
- There are currently no international standards for RFID plates, so the possibility exists of compatibility issues when driving abroad. This could mean that when driving in some countries, RFID plates would only function as visual identification, as plates do in their current form.
Conclusion
While we accept the need to address plate theft and cloning, we do not believe that the recommendations offered in the Ghosts on the Road report are, on their own, sufficient to deter or prevent number plate crime. We even question whether they would make a very large difference.
A means for members of the public and law enforcement to visually identify cars will probably always exist, as we have said in previous articles, so number plates in some form are probably here to stay for the foreseeable future. That said, if we are to substantially address the issues tackled by the APPG's report, it seems that technology must have a part to play. RFID may be one of the most straightforward technologies to leverage in this cause.
On balance, it seems that the benefits of RFID number plates may outweigh the disadvantages; however, that depends upon the importance one assigns to each point listed above, and any other considerations that may emerge.
What do you think? We would be interested to hear your thoughts and ideas on this topic.
Contact us at editorial@regtransfers.co.uk.
