BBC Panorama Illegal Number Plates: Our Response

Tonight at 8pm, BBC Panorama investigates illegal number plates on UK roads. The BBC has already published its findings, and they make uncomfortable reading for our industry: plates altered to beat ANPR cameras are being picked up in their thousands, and some sellers will hand them over for cash with no questions asked.

We have been making number plates for eight years, and we have done it by the book from day one. So here is what the investigation found, what we do differently, and why a crackdown on rogue sellers is good news for drivers and for suppliers like us.

What Panorama found

• Cameras are catching them in their thousands. A new camera being trialled by ANPR provider MAV Systems near the Dartford Crossing has averaged more than 1,000 detections a day. A site near the M25 has risen to nearly 2,000 a day, and one near the Eurotunnel at Folkestone flags more than 400.
• Some sellers ask no questions. Filming undercover at a market in Essex, Panorama bought a plate for £40 cash in eight minutes, without being asked for ID or proof they were allowed to use the registration. Both are required by law.
• Anyone can register. There are more than 34,000 businesses registered with the DVLA to supply number plates, and becoming one currently takes a quick form and a one-off fee.
• Enforcement has been thin. Only two suppliers have been prosecuted and removed from the DVLA register since 2020, and just six DVLA officers inspect and audit the thousands of registered suppliers.
• Change is coming. The DVLA says it is cleaning up the register and strengthening enforcement. Police want tighter licensing of who can make plates, and the minister responsible for vehicle registration says a new national centre is being set up to tackle illegal plates, adding that nothing is being ruled in or out.

Eight years of doing it properly

Utopia Plates is a DVLA Registered Number Plate Supplier and private registration dealer based in Durham. For eight years, every road-legal plate we have made has gone through the same process, whether it was ordered online or made while you wait in our store.

This is not a statement we have put together because Panorama is on tonight. It is how we have always worked, and it is why the stricter rules being talked about today would change nothing for us.

What we do on every single order

• We check who you are. We ask for proof of identity and address before we make any road-legal plate, using one of the accepted documents.
• We check you are entitled to the registration. That means the V5C logbook, a V5C/2 new keeper slip, a V750 certificate of entitlement, a V778 retention document or similar.
• We keep records. Every sale is recorded as the DVLA requires, so every plate we make can be traced.
• We make every plate to BS AU 145e. Every plate carries our business name and postcode, the British Standard mark and the manufacturer's identifier.
• We never make plates designed to beat cameras. No special materials, no coatings, no tinted covers, no altered characters or spacing. We turn those requests down.
• We have a real shop with a real address. You can walk into our Durham store and watch your plates being made. We are not a market stall or an anonymous website.

Checking documents costs us sales. Some customers would rather not show them and cancel their order. We accept that, because those checks are exactly what stop a registration ending up on a car it does not belong to, and the BBC's findings show what happens when a seller skips them.

Why we welcome a crackdown

Sellers who hand out camera-beating plates for cash undercut every supplier who follows the rules, and then leave the whole trade with a reputation problem. Tighter licensing, more inspections and real penalties for rogue sellers will take them off the market.

That is good for drivers, good for road safety, and good for honest suppliers. Whatever changes come out of this, Utopia Plates is ready for them, and we are here for the long term.

Are stylish plates affected?

No, as long as they were made properly. ANPR cameras read the contrast between solid black characters and a reflective background under infrared light. A plate made to BS AU 145e, with solid black characters in the correct font, size and spacing, permanently fixed and with nothing covering it, reads exactly as it should. Raised 3D and 4D lettering does not change that.

What does cause problems is anything that interferes with how the plate reflects light: special materials, coatings, films, tinted covers or altered characters. For the full detail, read our guide: Are 3D and 4D number plates legal?

Check your own plates in a minute

1. Look at the bottom edge for the supplier's name and postcode, BS AU 145e and a manufacturer mark.
2. Check the characters are a single solid black and correctly spaced, with no sheen or shading.
3. Make sure there is no tinted cover, film or spray on the plate.

Not sure? Send us a clear photo and we will tell you honestly whether your plates are legal, whether or not you buy anything from us.

If you think your registration has been cloned, for example you are receiving fines for places you have never been, report it to the police, get a crime reference number and send it to whoever issued the notices. Then get in touch with the DVLA.

The bottom line

When you buy number plates, buy them from a DVLA Registered Number Plate Supplier who asks for your documents. If a seller does not ask who you are, walk away.

We have been doing it properly for eight years, and we will keep doing it for many more.