Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many incidents of car registration cloning were reported in (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

If the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is notified of a suspected cloned vehicle investigations will be carried out and where appropriate, a replacement vehicle registration number will be issued. The table below shows the number of occasions where a member of the public contacted the DVLA about correspondence, fines or penalties they had received about vehicles they did not recognise or accept responsibility for. The table also shows the volume of replacement registration numbers issued.

In these circumstances, suspected cloning is just one potential reason why someone might receive such correspondence. It is likely that a proportion of these cases will have been the result of an error on the part of an organisation or their customer when requesting vehicle keeper details. Where a vehicle keeper believes their vehicle or number plate has been cloned, the correct course of action is to report this to the police for further investigation. The DVLA may also pass on any intelligence gathered to the police, who are responsible for enforcement.