Cherished Number Plates News

Number Plate Theft - A Growing Problem

10 September 2008

Every day, throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland, car’s number plates are stolen by criminals who have discovered a new way to cover their tracks by fitting stolen plates to vehicles for use in illegal activity such as speeding, theft, get-away-vehicles and the avoidance of congestion charges like the ones in place when entering London. This problem has been highlighted by several organisations and the Police, who are growing more and more concerned about this new type of crime.

In 2005, over 40,000 sets of number plates were reported as stolen from completely innocent people, many of which were subsequently used in some of the above crimes leading to bewildered car owners reviving parking fines, congestion charges and even being suspected of serious offences. Number plates are simply fixed to a car, generally by two small screws and are easily removable using a simple cross-head screwdriver. Criminals have recently begun targeting these plates, many of which are on older cars, leaving their owners in a tight fix.

This recent phenomenon has led to companies manufacturing ‘tamper-resistant’ number plates, which can only be removed from a vehicle by destroying the actual plate in the process rendering it useless to a criminal. The only DVLA certifies tamper-proof plate is made by SecurePlate, which stood up against their rigorous testing.

These plates are making it even more difficult for thugs to track down a suitable set of plates on a car identical to their own to avoid police computer checks, for them to steal. However it’s evident that the problem is still wide spread across the UK and will be for some time.

Ironically, in 2001, the DVLA actually placed a ban on the formerly legal tamper resistant plates which were popular on sports cars such as the Mazda MX-5.

The car servicing company Kwik Fit, has recently began offering a service to effectively secure a number plate to a car in order to help the owner avoid the registration plate thefts.

However the conclusion is clear; more needs to be done in order to stop the theft of innocent people’s identity through their number plates.