The number of complaints about misattribution was 9% higher than in 2024 and almost double the figure recorded in 2018, according to the RAC motoring organisation, which analysed data obtained under freedom of information requests.<\/p>\n
The rising figures underscore concerns about the number of illegal number plates in use, allowing criminals to evade detection and dangerous drivers to avoid being caught.<\/p>\n
Although drivers should provide number plate suppliers with the V5C vehicle logbook and proof of identity, an investigation last year<\/a> uncovered more than 130 official suppliers in the UK willing to sell cloned versions, which allow drivers to dodge police and congestion charges.<\/p>\n Cloning vehicles has left many innocent car owners having to struggle to prove they were not responsible when enforcement camera images apparently caught their vehicle committing offences<\/a>.<\/p>\n A parallel concern is the use of \u201cghost\u201d plates which are designed to be unreadable by the UK\u2019s 18,000 automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, which enforce safety measures such as speed limits or lane closures on smart motorways.<\/p>\n The RAC said the UK needed to overhaul an outdated and poorly regulated number plate system. Its head of policy, Simon Williams, said: \u201cIf number plate suppliers were carrying out all the checks they\u2019re supposed to, it would be much harder for dodgy drivers to buy cloned plates in the first place. It\u2019s only when a fine arrives at a vehicle keeper\u2019s home address that they realise someone else is driving around using their vehicle\u2019s number plate illegally.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that more also needed to be done to catch drivers with ghost plates, \u201cwhether that\u2019s more police officers being equipped with handheld devices that can detect if plates are unreadable, updating ANPR cameras and introducing higher security standards for number plates and for those who produce them\u201d.<\/p>\n The government last month said there would be a new nationwide crackdown on illegal number plates, with funding from the Department for Transport<\/a> for a new roads policing team. A new National Roads Policing Coordination Centre would share intelligence as well as trialling new technology such as specialised goggles to detect number plates that have been designed to be unreadable by cameras.<\/p>\n
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