Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the number of ghost plates in circulation.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, various police forces and Trading Standards in relation to the supply and use of illegal number plates as well as number plates with raised characters, commonly known as ‘4D plates’. Some 4D plates can also be described as ‘ghost’ plates where the characters are constructed from materials that are unable to be read by infrared Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems. Work is currently ongoing to quantify the number of illegal plates that may be in circulation, including ‘ghost’ plates.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with taxi licensing authorities on enforcement on illegal stealth number plates.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

We are aware of the issue of ghost plates being used on vehicles, including taxis and private hire vehicles. We would expect licensing authorities to work with the police to address this.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to prevent the sale of novelty number plates.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), various police forces and Trading Standards in relation to the supply and use of illegal number plates as well as number plates with raised characters, commonly known as ‘4D plates’. Some 4D plates can also be described as ‘ghost’ plates where the characters are constructed from materials that are unable to be read by infrared Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems. Work is currently ongoing to quantify the number of illegal plates that may be in circulation.

It is already an offence to sell number plates that do not meet the requirements of the relevant legislation. That offence is punishable by a fine of up to £2,500. The DVLA works with the police and Trading Standards to help prosecute suppliers found to be operating outside of the law.

Number plates are currently supplied by private businesses who are required to be registered with the DVLA. Suppliers who fail to request proof of identification or entitlement to the registration number can be subject to enforcement action, including fines and removal from the Register of Number Plate Suppliers via a court order.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the DVLA's Registered Number Plate Suppliers in preventing vehicle crime.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), various police forces and Trading Standards in relation to the supply and use of illegal number plates as well as number plates with raised characters, commonly known as ‘4D plates’. Some 4D plates can also be described as ‘ghost’ plates where the characters are constructed from materials that are unable to be read by infrared Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems. Work is currently ongoing to quantify the number of illegal plates that may be in circulation.

It is already an offence to sell number plates that do not meet the requirements of the relevant legislation. That offence is punishable by a fine of up to £2,500. The DVLA works with the police and Trading Standards to help prosecute suppliers found to be operating outside of the law.

Number plates are currently supplied by private businesses who are required to be registered with the DVLA. Suppliers who fail to request proof of identification or entitlement to the registration number can be subject to enforcement action, including fines and removal from the Register of Number Plate Suppliers via a court order.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her Department has had with the DVLA on 4D number plates.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), various police forces and Trading Standards in relation to the supply and use of illegal number plates as well as number plates with raised characters, commonly known as ‘4D plates’. Some 4D plates can also be described as ‘ghost’ plates where the characters are constructed from materials that are unable to be read by infrared Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems. Work is currently ongoing to quantify the number of illegal plates that may be in circulation.

It is already an offence to sell number plates that do not meet the requirements of the relevant legislation. That offence is punishable by a fine of up to £2,500. The DVLA works with the police and Trading Standards to help prosecute suppliers found to be operating outside of the law.

Number plates are currently supplied by private businesses who are required to be registered with the DVLA. Suppliers who fail to request proof of identification or entitlement to the registration number can be subject to enforcement action, including fines and removal from the Register of Number Plate Suppliers via a court order.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera system.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

ANPR is a valuable tool to help the police tackle crime and keep the road safe.

We keep the effectiveness of police and law enforcement use of ANPR under regular review, to ensure it remains a robust tool for identifying vehicles of interest to the police and drivers who break the law.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of vehicle number plate cloning offences in the last five years.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold information on the number of vehicle number plate cloning offences recorded by the police in England and Wales as this is included within the offence sub-code of ‘Fraud and forgery associated with registration and licensing documents’ offences.

The table shows the total number of such offences recorded, from 2019/20 to the year ending September 2024.

Table: the number of ‘Fraud, forgery etc. associated with registration and licensing documents’ offences recorded by the police in England and Wales¹, 2019/20 to the year ending September 2024.

1. Humberside police are excluded from all years, as they have been unable to provide data to the Home Office Data Hub

2. 2019/20 excludes Greater Manchester police, who were unable to provide data to the Home Office Data Hub for this period.