Britain’s car registration system was designed for a simpler age—one where number plates helped identify vehicles, enforce the law and keep roads safe. Today, MPs say it is being exploited on an industrial scale.
From “ghost” number plates that evade cameras, to cloned vehicles linked to serious crime, parliamentarians are now calling for a fundamental shake-up of how number plates are issued, sold and enforced. Their warning is stark: criminals are exploiting loopholes faster than the system can keep up, and ordinary drivers are paying the price.
The UK has more than 40 million registered vehicles, all reliant on number plates as their primary form of identification. These plates are used by police, councils and enforcement agencies to issue speeding fines, congestion charges, parking penalties and insurance checks.
But MPs say the reliability of this system is rapidly eroding.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras—used extensively by police forces and local authorities—depend on plates being readable, standardised and legitimate. When plates are altered or cloned, enforcement breaks down.
So-called “ghost” plates are not invisible, but they are deliberately engineered to defeat technology.
They may use:
These plates can cause ANPR systems to misread or fail to log a vehicle altogether. MPs have raised concerns that such plates are increasingly being used to avoid:
Despite being illegal, enforcement is inconsistent, and detection often relies on police officers spotting irregularities in real time.
Vehicle cloning is one of the most damaging consequences of weak registration controls.
Criminals copy the registration number of a legitimate vehicle—often sourcing details from online car listings or social media photos—and place that number on another car. The cloned vehicle is then used for offences ranging from fuel theft and burglary to drug trafficking and violent crime.
For the innocent owner, the consequences can be severe:
MPs have criticised the lack of coordinated support for victims, many of whom report being treated as offenders rather than victims of identity crime.
At the heart of the problem is how easy it is to buy a number plate.
By law, sellers must verify a buyer’s identity and their right to use a registration number. In practice, MPs say these checks are often weak, inconsistently applied or easily bypassed—especially online.
Investigations have found that some sellers:
With hundreds of registered plate suppliers across the UK, enforcement is fragmented, and penalties for non-compliance are often too small to act as a deterrent.
The misuse of number plates is not just a traffic issue—it has wider implications for public safety.
Police rely heavily on ANPR data to:
When vehicles cannot be reliably identified, criminal investigations become harder and slower. MPs warn that this undermines confidence in policing and creates opportunities for repeat offenders to operate with near impunity.
A cross-party group of MPs has urged the government to modernise the entire registration framework. Key proposals include:
Some MPs have also suggested exploring secure or traceable plate materials, similar to systems used in other countries.
Without reform, MPs warn the problem will only grow. As enforcement becomes more automated and cities expand clean-air and charging zones, incentives to evade detection increase.
The result is a system where:
For millions of motorists, that feels fundamentally unfair.
Until reforms are introduced, drivers are advised to:
MPs agree on one thing: the car registration system is no longer keeping pace with modern crime.
Number plates were meant to identify vehicles—not disguise them. Without urgent action, ghost plates, cloned cars and rogue sellers will continue to haunt Britain’s roads, leaving law-abiding drivers caught in the crossfire.
For a country that relies so heavily on vehicle data to enforce the law, the message from Parliament is clear: fix the system—or risk losing control of it altogether.
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