Illegal number plate cloning is on the rise due to drivers who want to avoid penalty for older, polluting cars.
Reports of cars being wrongly linked to fines for driving in ‘clean air’ or ‘low-emissions’ zones have shot up, suggesting more and more rogue motorists are fitting fake plates to cheat city centre enforcement cameras.
London, Birmingham and Bath are the leaders in green zones. Bristol’s clean air zone will charge older cars £9 and HGVs, buses and coaches £100 from the summer.
It’s too easy: The number plates our reporter purchased online were sent from Jersey.
Cambridge, Oxford Manchester Bradford Sheffield, Newcastle and Sheffield could all be next.
As more cities introduce such zones, the AA worries that the increase in counterfeit plates is only the beginning.
Figures obtained by the Daily Mail show the number of drivers complaining to the DVLA about correspondence, fines or penalties wrongly linked to their vehicles – an indicator of their plates being cloned – more than doubled in 2019.
Sadiq Khan was London’s mayor in this year., which imposes a £12.50 charge (on top of the £15 for entering the capital’s congestion zone) on older polluting cars and vans.
By comparison, illegally cloned plates can be bought online in seconds for under £30.
Figures obtained by the Daily Mail show the number of drivers complaining to the DVLA about correspondence, fines or penalties wrongly linked to their vehicles – an indicator of their plates being cloned – more than doubled in 2019. This was the year London mayor Sadiq Khan introduced the 24-hour ultra-low emission zone
There were 9,384 complaints to the DVLA about letters, fines, or penalties incorrectly linking vehicles in 2019. This was up from 421 in 2018. The pandemic caused traffic congestion to drop to 7.400 in 2020. It was 4,110 between January 1, and July 31, 2017.
Jack Cousens, of the AA, said: ‘With cities across the country introducing clean air zones, plate cloning could increase as fraudsters hope to cheat the charges.’
He urged the Government to close down offshore businesses – particularly ‘no questions asked’ websites in the Channel Islands – offering to clone plates.
To find fake plates, drivers search online for cars that look the same or older than theirs so they are not subject to pollution fees. They take the number plate in their hands and place an order online for a duplicate.
The Mail was able to order one set of plates from a firm based in Saint Helier, Jersey, for just over £30 including delivery.
The reporter received a second set of plates from another firm, without the need for ownership papers.