Currently reading: Numberplate theft on rise as crooks clone and dodge fines
Numberplates are being stolen and fitted to similar-looking vehicles for criminal gain

In just 18 seconds during one evening in April this year, another car became a statistic in the UK’s growing epidemic of numberplate theft.

As our black and white stills, taken from a security camera near the vehicle owner’s house in Farnborough, show, the thief knows precisely which car to target and quickly unscrews the plate before melting into the shadows.

Figures obtained from police forces by Direct Line reveal that 53,000 numberplates were stolen from vehicles in 2021. Because numberplate theft is not generally reported, statistics for other years are difficult to obtain.

Pic 3 thief leaves

However, figures on the cloning of numberplates – the practice of disguising a car’s true identity by fitting it with plates stolen from a similar model or made illegally, often to avoid ANPR camera detection or congestion zone charges – are easier to obtain because victims appeal the penalty notices that result.

For example, last month, Transport for London (TfL) revealed that it had cancelled 641 penalty charge notices generated between October 2020 and April 2021 by owners of cars whose numberplates had been stolen or copied and fitted to similar-looking vehicles.

However, in the same period one year later, and following the expansion of London’s ULEZ scheme, it cancelled 4700 penalty charge notices. Meanwhile, the RAC says that in March 2020 across the country, 1105 motorists contacted the DVLA to report their vehicle had been wrongly linked to offences, compared with 656 in April 2019. 

To limit the possibility of cloning, numberplates can be produced and sold only by suppliers registered with the DVLA. Crucially, they must check an application for a new numberplate is lawful. Recently, however, a reporter for a national newspaper was able to source six numberplates without their vehicle ownership details being checked.

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Ian Southern, managing director of Fourdot, a company that designs and manufactures bespoke numberplates, says poor regulation is to blame. “Regulation by the DVLA is ineffective and prosecutions are rare,” he said.

“We have asked it to allow us to validate a purchaser and their link to the vehicle using its database, as a member of the British Parking Association can, but it has refused. Abroad, online suppliers working cross-border in places such as the Republic of Ireland and the Channel Islands ignore the DVLA requirement for proof of entitlement and identity.”

A spokesperson for the DVLA told Autocar that the cloning of numberplates is a police issue, but although it does audit numberplate suppliers, it does not have “readily available” figures regarding the numbers of cautions and prosecutions.

Meanwhile, in Farnborough, the victim of the numberplate theft says that she has reported it to the DVLA and that the police have updated their ANPR database.

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Boris9119 5 September 2022

An antequated system that makes criminal activity laughingly easy. 

Peter Cavellini 5 September 2022

 Instead of putting the number plate in the usual place, why can't an alter be a smaller plate behind the windshield and the rear Window?, wouldn't this stop cloning also?

____VIP____ 5 September 2022

sikkk idea m8.

altho then they might break the window.... which would be decidely annoying...

altho again i guess it would be a little more obvious that your number plate had been nicked!

____VIP____ 5 September 2022

sikkk idea m8.

altho then they might break the window.... which would be decidely annoying...

altho again i guess it would be a little more obvious that your number plate had been nicked!

catnip 5 September 2022

Presumably because number plates behind front/rear screens are not very visible, hence why they are not road legal.

Nice to see how easily the DVLA wash their hands of any responsibility, if they allowed the database to be checked by legitimate firms then it would help. Having said that, there would still be loads of places you can get plates easily, as you can now.