Crackdown on the Cloning of Registration Plates

Crackdown on the Cloning of Registration Plates

The DVLA recently announced a crackdown on suppliers of illegal number plates. The main instances of this are number plates being copied by an unscrupulous supplier and then sold on to groups of criminals dealing with stolen cars. The copied number plates then replace the ones on the stolen cars, and so those cars are no longer registered as stolen for any checks on the registration plates.

As well as enabling the sale of stolen cars, this can also cause ramifications for victims who have had their number plate copied. Being pulled over by the police is never pleasant, but when they begin accusing you of stealing the car you are in, this can quickly become a nightmare.

The Number Plate Crackdown

Last year, laws were introduced that made it an offence for number plate suppliers to supply plates that didn’t meet the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 which gave the DVLA new powers to directly prosecute suppliers that were engaged in illegal dealings. Successful prosecutions have already been made and there are others that are currently under investigation.

These laws are important as they are targeted specifically at the source of these plates, rather than attempting to find those selling the cars and imprisoning them. In the former scenario, the supply of copied plates is cut off, in the latter, new criminals can simply take the place of the old, filling a gap in the market.

To find the suppliers that need to be prosecuted in the first place, Trading Standards, the Police and the Courts have also become involved.

The Consumer Benefits

The direct benefits from this initiative will hopefully be a reduction in the number of stolen cars on the road and up for sale. By making it harder for stolen cars to be sold on, the incentive to steal cars in the first place is reduced. A reduction in car theft filters through to a reduction in insurance premiums and so everybody is happier, except presumably the criminals!

In addition to the direct benefits, a service has also been set up for motorists who believe they have had their number plate copied. By recording this information, the chances of you being pulled over because somebody has copied your number plate and put it on a stolen car are reduced. If the Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology also has access to these records, the chances of the return of a stolen vehicle increase as well.

The Ongoing Story

Despite all of this, calls are still being made for even tougher measures to be taken against those who engage in number plate cloning, Although this returns the focus to those who are actually selling the stolen cars, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Hooper, considered the police expert on car crime, has said that either introducing a third party to verify the documentation in all sales, or introducing a mandatory full mechanical inspection for all sales would be two possible options.

With measures being taken against the suppliers of the cloned plates, as well as those who then utilise those plates, there will hopefully be a sharp reduction in this practise.

Until then, one of the best ways to ensure your plate doesn’t get cloned is to go through a trusted number plate supplier.