Crafty motorists are using ‘ghost plates’ to dodge speed cameras and make their cars invisible to the law, council chiefs warned. These illegal plates, also known as 3D or 4D plates, reflect camera flashes, making it impossible for speed and bus lane cameras to detect them.
Authorities have stepped up their efforts to close the loophole for good. Two years ago, the individual in charge of our national Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system revealed that a surprising number of drivers – about one in 15 – were able to outsmart the system with relative ease.
Upon his departure, Professor Fraser Sampson penned a letter to then-Transport Secretary Mark Harper expressing his disappointment at the lack of action taken against these simple yet effective tactics.
In response, councils were equipped with new cameras capable of recognising these elusive number plates. In Wolverhampton, for example, local wardens were given the advanced tech as part of a rigorous enforcement campaign last year. Motorists caught using these deceptive plates can expect a £100 fine.
In his letter to Mark Harper, Prof Sampson detailed how individuals were avoiding fines by cloning number plates, using reflective tape, and buying ‘stealth plates’, thereby dodging charges for speeding or entering low-emission zones.
He revealed that the system had an accuracy rate of just 97 per cent when it comes to reading number plates, resulting in a staggering 2.4million incorrect readings every day, and leading to innocent drivers being wrongly fined, reports Wales Online.
With about 15,400 traffic lanes monitored by cameras, the system processes between 75 and 80m reads daily, sometimes exceeding 80m. This figure might’ve even reached 100m by the end of 2024, it’s believed.
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 also 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.”
Emission zones and other strategic traffic enforcement schemes put motorists in situations where they have to make significant financial choices and it is at least arguable that the incentives for some to ‘game’ the ANPR systems have never been greater.
Additionally, Prof Sampson pointed out simple methods of evasion. He said: “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 conduct to increase as the reliance on ANPR for new traffic management schemes continues.”
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