Sarah Coombes, Labour MP for West Bromwich, holding vehicle number plates

Widespread misuse of vehicle number plates is putting road users at risk and threatens national security, according to a new report. As many as one in 15 vehicles may carry plates designed to evade detection by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, researchers found.

Some are known as ghost plates, featuring a reflective coating that prevents them being read by cameras. Another technique used by criminals is plate cloning, which involves illegally copying another vehicle’s registration.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety (APPGTS), which produced the report, said avoiding ANPR cameras sometimes requires “nothing more sophisticated than cellophane, leaves or a marker pen”. It explain

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