UK Government Pressed to Curb Rise in Illegal Ghost Number Plates

There is growing pressure on the UK government to crack down on the sale and use of illegal 'ghost number plates,' which use reflective coatings or other modifications to evade detection by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. The British Number Plate Manufacturers Association (BNMA) warns that many unregistered and unscrupulous suppliers are flooding the market with non-compliant, untraceable plates, facilitating criminal activities and undermining road safety. Despite it being illegal to use such plates, purchasing them remains legal and they are sold cheaply online. West Bromwich MP Sarah Coombes has called for tougher penalties, including increasing fines from £100 to £1,000, adding six penalty points, and considering vehicle seizure or license disqualification. She emphasizes that current penalties provide little deterrence since they are often less severe than the traffic offenses the ghost plates help conceal. The issue has prompted calls for tighter regulation of number plate suppliers, with a parliamentary roundtable planned to address the problem with industry experts, the DVLA, and police forces.