Drivers using illegal ‘ghost plates’ to make cars invisible to speed cameras

The reflective number plates are being used to avoid fines

08:59, 28 Apr 2025

Motorists are avoiding speed cameras by using 'ghost plates' to make their cars invisible to the law, council chiefs have warned.

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The illegal plates, referred to as 3D or 4D plates, reflect camera flashes and avoid detection by speed and bus lane cameras and are.

Authorities are now intensifying efforts to prevent motorists from exploiting this loophole.

Two years ago, the individual in charge of our national Automatic Number Plate Recognition system revealed that a surprising proportion of drivers - approximately one in 15 - manage to trick the system with relative ease.

Upon his departure, Professor Fraser Sampson wrote a letter to Transport Secretary Mark Harper expressing his disappointment over the lack of action against these simple yet crafty tactics.

In response to the problem, councils have been supplied with new cameras capable of identifying the elusive number plates.

In Wolverhampton, local wardens were given this advanced technology as part of a stringent enforcement campaign last year, reports Wales Online[1].

Offenders can anticipate a ?100 fine for such violations.

In his letter to Mark Harper, Prof Sampson detailed how individuals were avoiding fines by cloning number plates, applying reflective tape, and buying 'stealth plates', thereby dodging penalties for speeding or entering low-emission zones.

He revealed that the system has only a 97 per cent success rate in reading number plates, resulting in a staggering 2.4 million incorrect readings every day, which can lead to innocent drivers being wrongly fined.

He noted that around 15,400 traffic lanes monitored by cameras submit between 75 and 80 million reads daily, with some days exceeding 80 million.

Prof Sampson also mentioned that the number of reads could reach 100 million per day by the end of 2024.

Despite its technological advancements, Prof Sampson highlighted the vulnerability of the ANPR system, saying: "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 explained how easily the system can be compromised: "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."

Prof Sampson added: "Merely by applying reflective tape to distort part of a registration plate or purchasing stealth plates from online vendors, motorists can confuse and confound current number plate recognition technology and both of these are easily obtainable.

"One recent estimate suggested that one in fifteen drivers may already be using anti-ANPR technology; it is reasonable to expect this behaviour to increase as the reliance on ANPR for new traffic management schemes continues."

References

1. ^ Wales Online (www.walesonline.co.uk)