Overview

• Coombes’s Private Members’ Bill seeks to raise the penalty for using ghost plates from £100 to £1,000 and impose six licence points.
• The DVLA has committed to working with police and Trading Standards to shut down suppliers selling non-compliant number plates.
• The British Number Plate Manufacturers Association warns that rogue sellers are using untraceable, substandard materials to aid criminal evasion.
• Police checks in London showed about 40% of taxi and private hire vehicles had coatings that rendered their plates unreadable to ANPR cameras.
• Ghost plates can be bought online for as little as £30 and are often marketed as off-road or novelty items despite their illicit applications.