A cross-party select committee-style inquiry into vehicle registration plates has been launched by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety (APPGTS).   

It follows calls from MPs and experts who have highlighted a growing problem around illegal number plates, such as undetectable ‘ghost’ plates.

Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) is essential to enforcing traffic offences such as speeding and dangerous driving.

It is also key to protecting critical national infrastructure, tackling rogue traders and serious organised criminals on the roads.

However, the UK’s number plate system is deemed by experts to be failing, with regulations failing to keep pace with the growth in illegal number plate practices and the increasing quantity of number plate suppliers registered with the DVLA.

New technology recently revealed the true scale of the use of illegal ‘ghost plates’, with more than 4,000 non-compliant plates identified in a single location in Birmingham in just two weeks.

Ghost plates look normal to the naked eye but are rendered unreadable to ANPR cameras by a transparent film or raised digits made of non-compliant materials, or the careful altering of specific characters.

Cloned plates are also a growing worry with data from Transport for London (TfL) reporting that plate-cloning cases have surged in the capital by 64% in the past three years. 

As a result, the framework for vehicle registration plates in this country has been called “wholly inadequate” by Professor Fraser Sampson, a former surveillance camera commissioner who is now a part of the Vehicle Identification Group at Cranfield University. 

This expert group also recently stated that the current arrangements for the supply and regulation of number plates, represent a “significant enduring risk”, not only to policing and road safety, but also to the critical infrastructure of the country.

Sarah Coombes MP for West Bromwich has led calls in Parliament for increased penalties for the use of ghost plates

“For too long the critical importance of number plates has flown under the radar,” she said. “Cowboy suppliers and unregulated online shops have led to an explosion of illegal number plates on our roads, hampering police efforts to catch people who think the rules of the road don’t apply to them.

“I’m campaigning for higher fines, better enforcement and stronger regulation of our number plate system to put an end to this wild west.”

As such, the Transport Safety APPG is conducting an inquiry into vehicle registration plates, with aims to provide an assessment of the current registration plates system in the UK, offer evidence-based recommendations for reform of the system to enhance road safety, and facilitate informed discussions among policymakers, industry experts, trading standards, the police, and the public about the impact of non-compliant number plates on road safety.

It also aims to contribute to the development of a more robust regulatory and enforcement system to tackle the illegal use of non-compliant number plates and increase road safety.

The inquiry will consist of a call for evidence, an evidence session in Parliament, and an analysis of existing material on the subject. The call for evidence is now open. 

Source: Fleet News