Cameras catching thousands of cars with fake plates on UK roads have caught more than 1,000 ghost plates a day at one site, according to a new BBC investigation.
The cameras are currently being tested on motorways in south-east England. They target ghost plates, which use special plastic to make all or part of a registration number unreadable by most motorway cameras. MAV Systems is testing a new camera capable of identifying and reading these plates.
One test site near the Dartford Crossing records an average of more than 1,000 ghost plates a day over several months. Two other sites show a similar pattern:
- One near the M25 saw detections rise from 1,000 a day to nearly 2,000 a day
- The other near the Eurotunnel at Folkestone flags more than 400 a day
The UK already has 14,000 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) sites capturing 100 million number plates each day. The new cameras are meant to address a failure in existing systems to keep up with tactics used by drivers determined to avoid recognition.
The People Behind The Numbers
The investigation cites two deaths tied to vehicles with hidden or altered plates. Jason Wallis died in Buckinghamshire in 2023, hit by a car with hidden registration plates. Lewis Baker survived and was jailed for 15 months for dangerous driving, admitting he had used a device to hide his number plate.
Graham Slinn was killed on a pedestrian crossing in 2025 by a car with cloned plates. Driver Cain Byrne was jailed for 11 years and six months for causing death by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, and driving without insurance.
Nicola Timmis, the victim’s daughter, calls cloned plates a “gateway drug” that allows drivers to take more risks. She argues that once drivers start hiding their identity, they are more likely to drive dangerously.
The New Camera Technology
MAV Systems is testing a new camera capable of identifying and reading ghost plates. The technology targets plates that use special plastic to make all or part of a registration number unreadable by most motorway cameras.
The People Behind The Numbers
The investigation cites two deaths tied to vehicles with hidden or altered plates. Jason Wallis died in Buckinghamshire in 2023, hit by a car with hidden registration plates. Lewis Baker survived and was jailed for 15 months for dangerous driving, admitting he had used a device to hide his number plate.
Graham Slinn was killed on a pedestrian crossing in 2025 by a car with cloned plates. Driver Cain Byrne was jailed for 11 years and six months for causing death by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, and driving without insurance.
Nicola Timmis, the victim’s daughter, calls cloned plates a “gateway drug” that allows drivers to take more risks. She argues that once drivers start hiding their identity, they are more likely to drive dangerously.
Tony Porter, a former senior counter-terrorism officer advising on surveillance cameras, says weak ANPR systems “put the public at risk.” He believes the current system fails to stop drivers who want to stay untracked.
How The Trade Works
More than 34,000 businesses are registered with DVLA to supply number plates. Anyone can become a registered supplier by filling in a form and paying a one-off fee.
Secret filming at a market in Essex found two out of three businesses approached offered ghost plates avoiding Ulez cameras. One business sold a plate for £40 in cash, without ID or proof of registration rights, in under eight minutes.
Only two number plate suppliers have been prosecuted and removed from the DVLA register since 2020, according to a Freedom of Information request.
The Weak Spot In The System
The problem is not just the plates themselves. It is the voluntary system of registering suppliers that lets anyone buy into the trade with minimal effort.
DVLA registration is required to sell number plates, but the enforcement is thin. The investigation found that suppliers at the Essex market were willing to break the law without hesitation.
The government has instigated a national plan to understand the scale of the problem and what can be done about it. That is a start, but it does not address the underlying weakness in licensing. A voluntary system that anyone can join with a form and a fee is not a system at all — it is an invitation to fraud.
“put the public at risk”
What Happens Next
The Panorama programme airs on BBC One (BBC Two in Northern Ireland) at 20:00 on Monday 28 September.
The programme will present the full findings of the investigation, including the scale of ghost plate detections and the stories of those affected. It will also look at how the DVLA registers suppliers and how the government plans to respond.
The government’s promise of a national plan is a step, but it is a small one. A national plan to understand the scale of the problem is not the same as a plan to fix it.
The investigation also found that only two suppliers have been prosecuted and removed from the DVLA register since 2020. That is a tiny number of prosecutions for a trade involving 34,000 registered businesses.
The government has a choice. It can either tighten the licensing system or leave it as it is. The BBC investigation suggests the current system is not working.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs the citizens and local groups pushing back against the cameras and is against MAV Systems’ new ghost plate-detecting technology and the data dragnets it could produce. The paper opposes mass tracking of ordinary people by governments or by the companies that sell to them, and backs the citizens and local groups pushing back.
The BBC investigation shows that ghost plates are a real threat, with real deaths attached to them. But the paper’s position is not about solving that threat through more cameras. It is about avoiding a surveillance state, and a system that catches thousands of cars a day feeds that state rather than checks it.
The paper would want tighter licensing for number plate suppliers, not just a national plan to understand the scale of the problem. It would want prosecutions that match the size of the trade, not two in six years. And it would want transparency on how the DVLA registers suppliers, not secret filming at a market to expose it.
Source material: “Thousands of illegal ghost plates on cars revealed by new cameras,” the BBC.
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