'Ghost' plates inquiry after thousands detected

The plates make vehicles invisible to speed, bus lane or low-emission zone cameras

A parliamentary inquiry into illegal "ghost" number plates has been launched after a pilot scheme detected thousands in use across Birmingham.

Reflective coatings on the plates means they cannot be read by police Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems and more than 4,000 were detected over a two-week period, under the pilot called Operation Phantom.

Following the pilot, an inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Transport Safety will examine what has become a growing problem.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster said he had been campaigning for national action for some time and the inquiry was " a significant and welcome step".

He said the "ghost" plates allowed dangerous drivers and criminals to evade detection, enforcement and accountability on the UK's roads.

'Wild West'

West Bromwich MP Sarah Coombes, a member of the APPG, raised the problem in Parliament earlier this year.

At the time, she said the number plates were "way too easy to buy".

She said they were available on many websites, often with a note saying they were show plates and "not for use on the roads", but she said companies knew people were buying them to put on vehicles and drive on the streets.

Coombes described the issue as a number plate "Wild West" and said she wanted to see tougher penalties for people who wilfully evaded detection and made roads unsafe.

She added the results of Operation Phantom exposed "just how big the problem of ghost plates is in our region", adding it was why there could be no better time for an inquiry.

Mr Foster said that he wanted to see stricter legal and regulatory regime for the manufacture and supply of vehicle registration plates.

"I want to see investment and rollout of cutting edge technology to detect vehicles displaying illegal ghost plates," he said.

He called for 3D and 4D plates, which are legal but can contain reflective material and be used as ghost plates, to be banned.

The PCC also called for tougher sanctions including increased fines, penalty points and powers to seize vehicles that have the illegal plates.