08/06/2026 The Observer: DVLA urged to curb ‘licence plate Wild West’ that helps criminals go undetected

MPs have demanded that the DVLA take “immediate action” to address a surge in illegal car licence plates, amid growing fears they are being used to facilitate organised crime and undermine national security.

There are two types of illegal plate: ghost plates, using raised – 3D or 4D – characters that cannot be read by police cameras; and cloned plates, which use registration numbers belonging to existing vehicles. In both cases, the authorities are hindered from tracking the cars and their owners, allowing drivers to evade speeding or congestion fines or go undetected for more serious crimes.

The Observer has established that as well as moving counterfeit goods and drugs around the country, illegal plates have been used in at least one rape case, slowing the detection of the suspect by a further three months, and a murder (see case study below).

Coordinated by Labour backbencher Sarah Coombes, more than a dozen MPs, including Conservative and Liberal Democrat representatives, have written to the regulating body complaining about a “lax approach to its own register of number plate suppliers”.

The letter to DVLA chief executive Tim Moss, seen by The Observer, highlights a report from last December which found that more than 34,000 suppliers were registered with the DVLA.

Since then, a joint investigation by this newspaper and BBC Radio 4’s The Naked Week has found there are now more than 45,000 DVLA-approved outlets selling licence plates, despite there being just six enforcement officers.

Coombes, the MP for West Bromwich, told The Observer: “It’s clear to MPs of all parties that the DVLA is presiding over a failing system that has enabled widespread criminality and led to the absurd situation that we have thousands of number plate suppliers operating out of garages, backrooms and sheds.

“Cloned and ghost number plates are being used in everything from racing to drug-dealing to murder. The DVLA must take control of this number plate wild west. We as MPs cannot stand by and watch as the situation gets worse, putting ordinary drivers and members of the public in danger.”

A DVLA spokesperson said: “The law requires number plate suppliers to be properly registered with DVLA and they must only supply number plates according to the legal requirements.

“DVLA works with police and trading standards to enforce these laws, and we will investigate any reports of suppliers failing to comply.”

Case study: Killers’ car was abandoned with three different licence plates

When Thames Valley police started investigating the murder of 21-year-old Kyron Lee, they found a stolen car dumped nearby. Scattered inside and around the abandoned VW Golf were three different licence plates, none of which belonged to the car.

Officers soon realised they were cloned plates: copies of numbers belonging to unsuspecting drivers in other parts of the country. Access to the phone of Khalid Nur, who has since been convicted as one of a gang of murderers, revealed he had ordered them from a DVLA-registered supplier run by his friend’s brother, Mohammed Waqas Akhtar.

Last year, Akhtar was convicted for four offences under the Vehicle Crimes Act, including making non-conforming or illegal plates. He was fined and banned from supplying plates for five years. His company, Perfect Plates Online, has been removed from the DVLA register.

Police, trading standards officers and other experts say this is the tip of the iceberg. They believe illegal plates are regularly being used to facilitate crimes ranging from the movement and sale of counterfeit goods, weapons and drugs to people-trafficking and – as in this instance – murder.

The scale of the problem means that action is slow. Only two providers were struck off the register in 2025, one of which was Perfect Plates. Sources claim that one supplier remains on the approved list more than six weeks after evidence was handed to the DVLA suggesting they supplied plates to at least eight vehicles linked to organised crime.

“There are no checks and balances,” said James Heath, a detective constable from Thames Valley Police’s major crime unit, who investigated the murder of Kyron Lee. “The legislation came in before this online world, where you can supply plates instantly, grew and grew.”

Although legitimate providers of number plates are meant to request physical copies of documents proving prior ownership of a registration number, The Observer applied to become a licence plate supplier, a process that also involved no meaningful checks.

The team was also able to purchase a licence plate registered to another owner without providing any documentation. The plates arrived from the online seller without any further checks. The name of the supplier has been passed to the DVLA. A spokesperson said they would conduct an investigation.