A new camera system being tested on motorways in south-east England has detected thousands of “ghost plates” designed to evade automatic number-plate recognition. One site near Dartford averaged more than 1,000 detections a day over several months.
At two other sites, tested for almost two years, detections rose from 1,000 to nearly 2,000 a day near the M25; a site near Folkestone flags more than 400 daily. Ghost plates use reflective material to make a vehicle’s correct registration unreadable to most cameras; cloned plates copy another vehicle’s number.
Panorama found two of three Essex market businesses it approached offered ghost plates; one sold a plate for £40 without asking for legally required ID or proof that the buyer could use the registration. Buying a ghost plate is not illegal by itself, but driving with one is. Vehicle-registration minister Justin Madders said the government is creating a national centre to share police intelligence and trial new technologies.
