Urgent warning to drivers using ‘ghost plates' to dodge speed cameras with £100 fine to be enforced

The Irish Sun

13-05-2025

DRIVERS are being warned they could face £100 fines as councils crack down on so-called 'ghost plates'—illegal number plates intended to evade speed and bus lane cameras.
These plates often use reflective or obscuring materials to avoid detection by
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Drivers caught using ghost plates can expect to be hit with a £100 fine
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
In Wandsworth, council chiefs are taking action to shut down the loophole.
These banned plates, often referred to as 3D or 4D plates, reflect camera flashes and can render a vehicle invisible to enforcement systems.
Council bosses have issued a stark warning about rogue motorists using '
These plates, which are not legal for road use, are being used by some drivers to beat
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Authorities are now ramping up efforts to stop them.
Two years ago, the head of the national Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system revealed that a shocking number of drivers – roughly one in 15 – could easily outsmart the system.
On leaving his post, Professor Fraser Sampson wrote to Transport Secretary Mark Harper expressing his frustration over the lack of government action on the issue.
To combat the problem, new cameras capable of spotting these 'stealth' number plates have been rolled out in some areas.
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In Wolverhampton, local enforcement officers were equipped with upgraded technology during a strict clampdown last year.
Drivers caught using ghost plates can expect to be hit with a £100 fine.
In his letter to Mark Harper, Prof Sampson detailed how motorists were getting around the law using reflective materials, cloned plates, and other deceptive tools to avoid penalties for speeding, low-emission zone breaches, or bus lane violations.
According to Prof Sampson, the ANPR system has a 97 per cent success rate in reading plates but still produces 2.4 million incorrect readings daily.
That margin of error could mean innocent drivers end up being wrongly fined.
Prof Sampson has raised major concerns about the vulnerability of the system, which still depends heavily on readable number plates despite advances in technology.
He said: "For all its technological advancement and operational indispensability, the ANPR system still relies ultimately on a piece of plastic affixed to either end of a vehicle.
"Served by a wholly unregulated market, what my predecessor termed the humble number plate represents a single and readily assailable point of failure with the ANPR network being easily defeated by the manufacture and sale of stealth plates, cloned registration marks and other rudimentary obscurant tactics."
He added: "The result is that the ability to frustrate the ANPR system remains staggeringly simple at a time when proper reliance on it for key public services such as policing, law enforcement and traffic management is increasing daily."
What to do if you think you're being scammed
The DVLA recommends you do the following:
Forward suspicious emails to [e-mail] and The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will investigate it.
Forward suspicious text messages to 7726 as this will flag the potential scam to your phone provider.
Report scam or misleading adverts to the Advertising Standards Authority. You can report adverts found online, including in search engines, websites or on social media.
You can also report scam or misleading adverts to Google or Bing if you found them in search results
Contact Action Fraud if you think you've lost money or been hacked because of an online scam or fraud and you're in England or Wales.
If you're in Scotland and you've lost money because of an online scam or fraud, report the crime to Police Scotland.
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In Wandsworth, council chiefs are taking action to shut down the loophole
Credit: Getty Images - Getty