Thousands of illegal registration plates, designed to be unreadable by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems, have been detected by a new camera technology being tested on motorways in south-east England. The BBC Panorama investigation found that these "ghost plates" are being used to evade enforcement of speed limits, low emission zones, and criminal tracking.

These modified plates pose a significant risk to public safety, with one former government advisor stating they are "far too easy to get hold of." Families affected by road deaths where illegal plates were involved have shared their devastating experiences. The investigation also highlighted the ease and low cost of purchasing such plates without any background checks.

The UK operates one of the world's most extensive ANPR networks, with 14,000 sites capturing 100 million number plates daily. However, experts believe this system is struggling to keep pace with drivers employing tactics to avoid recognition. These tactics include using "cloned" plates that mimic another vehicle's registration or "ghost plates" made with special materials to obscure the number.

A new camera system developed by MAV Systems, a key ANPR technology provider, is capable of identifying and reading these ghost plates. In tests near the Dartford Crossing, the system recorded an average of over 1,000 ghost plates per day over several months. Other testing sites have shown a significant increase in detections.

One test site near the M25 has seen ghost plate detections rise from 1,000 daily to nearly 2,000. Another near the Eurotunnel at Folkestone is flagging more than 400 ghost plates daily. These figures underscore the widespread nature of the problem.

The impact of such illegal plates on innocent individuals has been severe. Sharon Gannon's son, Jason Wallis, died in a crash in 2023 involving a vehicle with hidden registration plates. His brother-in-law, Lewis Baker, who survived the crash, admitted in court to using a device to hide his number plate and subsequently received a 15-month jail sentence for dangerous driving.

In a separate incident from 2025, an 81-year-old man, Graham Slinn, was killed on a pedestrian crossing by a car using cloned plates. These cases illustrate the deadly consequences associated with drivers attempting to evade detection.

In response to the growing problem, the minister responsible for vehicle registration in the UK has announced a national plan to assess the scale of illegal number plate usage and determine appropriate countermeasures. The findings of this investigation and the ongoing testing of new camera technology are expected to inform these efforts.