UK: Alarming increase in number plate crime
Figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request to the DVLA and released by Churchill Motor Insurance show substantial growth in cases of number plate theft and cloning.
Reported thefts of vehicle number plates increased by 68% between 2021 and 2024. Number plate cloning cases over the same period reportedly increased by 41%.
5,683 number plate thefts were reported to the DVLA in 2024, compared to 3,376 in 2021, while 10,461 cases of number plate cloning were reported in 2024 compared to 7,430 in 2021.
Further analysis suggests that growth in the number of cases is accelerating. Cases of number plate theft increased by 1,400 between 2023 and 2024, compared to a rise of just 200 between 2022 and 2023 and a rise of 700 between 2021 and 2022. Reports of plate cloning rose by 500 between 2023 and 2024, and by more than 2,000 between 2022 and 2023.
In many cases of theft or cloning, number plates are used by criminals to mask vehicles' identities in order to evade detection. Typically, false plates are used to enable perpetrators to get away with speeding, illegally parking, avoiding tolls and charges travelling in low-emission zones and stealing fuel by filling up at petrol stations and driving away without paying.
Churchill Motor Insurance's Nicholas Mantel said, “Fitting tamper-proof screws to your number plates is a simple but effective theft deterrent, but if your plates are stolen or cloned, it’s crucial to act quickly by notifying the police, DVLA, and your insurer.”
Jersey, Channel Islands: £350,000 paid for Jersey number plate J5 on a broken scooter
At the beginning of August, a single-letter, single-digit number plate was sold at an auction on the Channel Island of Jersey for £350,000. The lot also included a broken-down motor scooter upon which the registration number was displayed.
Jersey auctioneer Simon Drieu stated that the sale represented the second highest price ever achieved for a number plate in Jersey. The most expensive was the £380,000 that was paid in 2020 for J4, a number once displayed on the car of the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey.
Jersey, like the other Channel Islands, is not part of the UK and therefore has its own number plate system and regulations. One of the rules states that vehicle registration numbers may only be sold when displayed on a vehicle, hence the inclusion of the broken scooter in the sale of J5.
For more information, please see our article on Jersey's private number plates.
USA: Plate theft on the rise in Texas as "temporary tags" are phased out
Law enforcement in Harris County, Texas has warned drivers to protect their license plates. The state of Texas is one of the regions where temporary paper license plate "tags" are being discontinued. Temporary tags are printed paper license plates that motorists display in their cars until their metal license plates are delivered. The paper tags are easy to fake and criminals frequently print bogus tags in order to disguise vehicles used to commit crimes, evade tolls and charges and get away with exceeding speed limits. As paper tags are being eliminated, police have said that the likelihood of license plate theft has increased.
Harris County's Precinct 4 Constable's Office recommended that people fit their plates with anti-theft screws, park in garages or well-lit areas and install locking number plate frames. They also advise drivers to check their license plates regularly and memorise their plate numbers.
Harris County resident Adrian Robles reported his license plates stolen in April.
"I was leaving for work one morning, and I noticed [...] my plates missing," Robles said.
Mr Robles checked security camera footage and spotted suspicious movements by a neighbour.
"You see him walking towards the vehicle," said Robles, "and then on his way back, he just had something in his hand, which I assumed was the plates."
The neighbour initially denied stealing the license plates, but after Robles called the police, his neighbour returned them the next day.
"I did go and get anti-theft fasteners," Robles said. "I haven't had anybody else try to steal my plates."
Australia: Thousands of fines cancelled amid 3D printed plates confusion
Australia has been experiencing one of the more novel number plate crimes we have heard about so far. 3DPrint.com, a website specialising in news pertaining to the 3D printing industry, reports that Aussie criminals are using 3D printers to make their own fake car number plates. The website originally reported isolated cases in 2023 but now, it says, the problem has grown in scale.
Police in Victoria, Australia have had to cancel thousands of speeding and traffic fines due to the involvement of cloned and stolen plates. In the last year, 5,525 infringement notices have been cancelled, which equates to about 106 fines every week.
In cases where 3D printed clones of number plates have been used, owners of the genuine plates that have been copied can lose their licences and accumulate thousands of dollars in fines. As with cases of cloning in the UK, proving their innocence can be difficult and time-consuming.
A Melbourne woman told radio station 3AW that she lost her licence after cloned plates from her car were used to commit a series of violations. Another man returned from an overseas trip and found he had $1,500AUD in fines for petrol theft, even though his car had been locked in his garage while he was away.
3D printers enable criminals to replicate stamped metal plates cheaply and quickly. Once painted, 3D printed number plates are visually very difficult to distinguish from the genuine metal article.
The Victorian Crime Statistics Agency recorded 29,790 number plate thefts between March 2024 and March 2025, which is almost double the 15,879 thefts recorded a decade earlier and the highest total in ten years.
USA: Jeep patents a license plate flipper design?
License plate "flippers", devices that allow number plates to be quickly repositioned manually or by remote control, are mostly associated with two things - James Bond's cars and dodgy drivers trying to hide their number plates from cameras and police.
With those familiar contexts in mind, it came as something of a surprise to us when we learned that American car brand Jeep had applied to patent the design for a license plate flipper.
Strictly speaking, the application was filed by Dutch multi-national Stellantis, which now owns the Jeep brand. However, graphics illustrating the concept showed the flipper on a Jeep SUV.
The Stellantis design, which the company calls a “Deployable Front License Plate Bracket” is for a mounting bracket on a telescopic arm that can extend the plate away from the body, flip it to a horizontal position and retract it into a slot in the vehicle's front fascia.
While this is, in many ways, similar to flippers that are already available and very popular with toll evaders and other shady characters, Stellantis says the intent is benevolent.
Stellantis's patent makes reference to automobile cooling systems that rely on air-intake openings in the front of vehicles. Front license plates often block some of that air intake and so can substantially compromise engine cooling. In states where summer temperatures can soar, a car needs the most effective cooling possible.
Most U.S. states require front license plates, but laws allow Americans registered in no-front-plate states to drive through states that do require them, even though locals have to display front license plates.
Stellantis suggests that their plate flipper system could be linked to a GPS tracker that would automatically engage it where allowed. That would allow drivers from states that require front plates to automatically stow their license plates to maximise engine cooling while driving in no-front-plate areas, and to have their plate visible when they return home where it is required by law.
