It’s reported an investigation for the Home Office has concluded that car number plates are too easy to clone, meaning criminals can pretend to drive other people’s vehicles, leaving victims having to prove their innocence.

The Daily Telegraph has seen an as-yet unpublished report which warns that the current system of regulation is too weak to prevent criminals and dishonest motorists from copying number plates to avoid detection by the country’s expanding network of 11,000 ANPR cameras.

It says the report, drawn up by Home Office officials, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the surveillance watchdog, said that the illegal trade in cloned plates is being fuelled by 40,000 suppliers who have each paid just £40 to register with the DVLA to sell number plates but who are largely unregulated and unlicensed.

The report stated that thousands of innocent motorists a year are at risk of being wrongly accused of not only driving offences, but also more serious crimes because of the ease with which their vehicle’s registration plate could be cloned by those seeking to avoid police detection.

It warned that paltry fines, which are rarely enforced, are failing to deter criminals, fraudulent suppliers and motorists from cashing in on the demand for cloned plates.

(Picture – Yay Images)