Latest news with #FraserSampson
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
More than 130 official suppliers willing to sell cloned number plates, experts find
More than 130 official suppliers of vehicle number plates are willing to sell cloned versions that could thwart police and avoid congestion charges, an investigation by expert government advisers has claimed. The alleged abuse of the system is described by the academics as a risk to law enforcement, road safety and the country's critical national infrastructure. The expert group, which includes Dr Fraser Sampson, who was the government's biometric surveillance camera commissioner until 2023, warns that the country is dependent on the 'humble number plate', but 'anyone can become a DVLA-registered number plate scheme (RNPS) member on payment of £40.' They write: 'There is no vetting, no trading history requirement and no monitoring of members' practices. 'To date we have found over 135 DVLA-registered RNPS members nationally who were prepared to make cloned plates … and there will undoubtedly be more. One West Midlands criminal had recently supplied over 7,000 plates to the criminal underworld.' The findings from members of the Vehicle Identification Group, a centre of excellence at Cranfield University dedicated to advancing the science of automatic number plate recognition, are included in a submission to the Labour MP Sarah Coombes. The West Bromwich MP is fronting a private member's bill that it is said would see offending drivers hit with a £1,000 fine, vehicle seizure or licence disqualification. Currently, the most common sanction for drivers with cloned plates is a £100 fine. The experts claim that legal and legible vehicle registration plates are fundamental to a range of priorities including tax collection, emission targets, the suppression of organised crime and even the safe transport of nuclear materials. 'Given their importance, it would be reasonable to expect number plates to be governed by a comprehensive, consistent and coherent framework regulating their manufacture and supply,' they write. 'Unfortunately, despite many public reports and an abundance of evidence as to its shortcomings, the framework for vehicle registration plates is wholly inadequate. 'It therefore remains our firm view that the current arrangements for the supply and regulation of number plates represent a significant enduring risk, not only to policing and road safety, but also to the critical infrastructure of the country.' Dr Michael Rhead, who has advised government bodies on the effective use of surveillance technologies in policing, approached registered suppliers and found more than 135 that were willing to provide plates without proof of car ownership, it is said. Sampson said he had already warned the government when he resigned as biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner that it was 'staggeringly simple to thwart' the automated number plate recognition (ANPR) systems on which the country's safety relied. Suppliers of plates are required by law to ask for both identification and proof of entitlement to a registration number at the time purchase, but Sampson said he had publicly and privately argued that there was insufficient enforcement. Sampson said: 'I'm astonished that something so serious and well evidenced still hasn't been actioned. Must we always wait for calamity to drive change?' Other members of the expert group include Dr Rob Gurney, who has advised the DVLA and border force, and William Martin, a visiting professor of physics at the University of Hertfordshire who has helped government bodies. Coombes said: 'A hundred pounds is a pitiful deterrent if you're caught with an illegal number plate like a ghost plate. 'Given that everything from low-level antisocial behaviour to organised crime is being fuelled by these number plates, using a ghost plate is not the victimless crime it's made out to be. 'The law is outdated and we need the punishment to increase to at least £1,000 and six penalty points at the earliest opportunity to make our roads safe again.' A DVLA spokesperson said: 'DVLA is committed to ensuring all number plates are displayed correctly and legally. We work with the police and trading standards to take action against suppliers who do not comply with the law. 'A legitimate supplier will always ask to see ID and entitlement documents before selling a number plate. Where this doesn't happen, members of the public can report this directly to their local trading standards.'
The Sun
13-05-2025
- The Sun
Urgent warning to drivers using ‘ghost plates' to dodge speed cameras with £100 fine to be enforced
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 traffic enforcement systems. 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 ' ghost plates ' to avoid detection. These plates, which are not legal for road use, are being used by some drivers to beat traffic rules and avoid fines. 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. 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 report@ 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. 2
Extra.ie
30-04-2025
- Automotive
- Extra.ie
How drivers are trying to beat speed vans by becoming 'undetectable'
Drivers in the UK have been warned about using 'ghost plates' to become undetectable against speed vans. The licence plates, also known as 3D or 4D licence plates, were causing headaches for authorities on the road as they were undetectable over their lack of legibility and ability to reflect camera flashes — like from a speed van. Professor Fraser Sampson, who was in charge of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition in the UK found that one in 15 drivers were using the plates to outsmart speed cameras, and wrote to then Transport Secretary Mark Harper to highlight the issue and the government's lack of action. Average-speed cameras on the M3 Motorway in the UK. Pic: Gary Perkin/Shutterstock He also wrote that speed cameras at the time only had a 97% accuracy rate meaning that hundreds of thousands of innocent people were receiving fines for doing nothing wrong. The government have since upgraded the equipment that are capable of detecting the plates, with fines of up to £100 (€117) for those who are caught with the illegal plates. Licence plates have a stringent set of guidelines, and must look like these. However, 3D/4D plates can kind of be legal. Pic: Getty Kinda — there are some requirements that the plates have to go through to be street legal. To be easily readable and recognisable by the RSA, the plates must be made from a reflective material, with a white background and blue IRL/EU logo on the left hand side of the plate, with black characters. The font must also be standard Irish font that you'd see on most cars when you buy them — but hyphens aren't a requirement. The height and width of the plates must be 70x36mm. 3D Licence plates are raised against the plate themselves, but are a bit sticky legally. Pic: Getty As for a 3D/4D plate, while you may think they look cool, the legality of the plates are hinging on if they meet the standards. They must also be readable by humans and the aforementioned speed cameras, and must be reflective to ensure that they're legible under all lighting conditions. Even if they're legal for the most part on the streets (i.e. if you're just let off with a warning), you may still also need to re-attach your original plates ahead of the NCT.
