The All Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety (APPGTS) has launched a cross-party select committee-style inquiry into vehicle registration plates following calls from MPs and experts who have drawn attention to a brewing crisis in road safety. 

Illegal number plates, such as undetectable ‘ghost plates,’ threaten the system that keeps our roads safe. Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) is essential to enforcing traffic offences such as speeding and dangerous driving. ANPR is also key to protecting critical national infrastructure, tackling rogue traders and serious organised criminals on the roads.

Given the importance of the ‘humble number plate’ in underpinning these functions, the UK’s number plate system is deemed by experts to be failing on many counts. Far from being the water-tight approach followed by other countries, regulation has failed to keep pace with the growth in illegal number plate practices and the increasing quantity of number plate suppliers registered with the DVLA. Similarly, penalties for using an illegal number plate are not sufficiently strong to disincentivise their use. 

Illegal number plates can include so-called ‘ghost plates’.These number 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 last 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 also led calls in Parliament for increased penalties for the use of ghost plates, advocating for increased fines and penalty points to end what she has termed the ‘number plate wild west.’

Until now, the links between road safety and number plate compliance have been under-explored. As such, the Transport Safety APPG is conducting an inquiry into vehicle registration plates, with aims to:

• Provide a comprehensive assessment of the current registration plates ecosystem in the UK

• Offer evidence-based recommendations for reform of the system to enhance road safety

• 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

• 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, and further information (including how to respond) can be found here:

The closing date for responses is 24 October 2025 by 23:59. 

(Pic: All Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety)