Criminals are exploiting loopholes in number plate regulations to evade police detection, with illegal plates now posing a serious threat to national security, a parliamentary investigation has found.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Road Freight and Logistics, backed by the RAC, discovered widespread use of non-compliant number plates that bypass Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras - crucial tools for tracking criminal activity.
These illegal plates fail to meet legal requirements for font, spacing and reflectivity, allowing criminals involved in terrorism, organised crime, human trafficking and theft to operate undetected on Britain's roads.
The problem centres on how easily anyone can buy non-standard plates, particularly online, despite laws requiring all plates to meet British Standard BS AU 145e. Current enforcement is failing to keep pace with the scale of abuse.
For ordinary motorists, the surge in illegal plates means greater risk from uninsured drivers and hit-and-run incidents, as offenders become virtually impossible to trace through conventional police methods.
The RAC is calling for urgent action to tighten manufacturing and sales controls, warning that weak enforcement is undermining law and order across the transport network.
Responsibility lies with the Department for Transport, which sets plate regulations, and the DVLA, which handles enforcement. The APPG says both agencies must coordinate better with police and industry to close dangerous loopholes that criminals are systematically exploiting.