Test cameras detect ghost plates at three south-east sites

BBC UK reports that a new camera system being tested at three motorway sites in south-east England is detecting plates designed to evade automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). Near the Dartford Crossing, the system recorded an average of more than 1,000 ghost plates a day over several months. At a site near the M25, detections rose from 1,000 a day to nearly 2,000 a day during almost two years of operation. Near Folkestone, close to the Eurotunnel, it is flagging more than 400 a day.

The figures come from tests by MAV Systems, an ANPR technology provider; they are detections at individual sites, not a stated national total. Ghost plates display the vehicle’s correct registration details but use reflective material that makes them difficult or impossible for most ANPR cameras to read. Cloned plates instead copy another vehicle’s registration, so at least two vehicles share the same details.

The BBC says a UK-wide plan has been instigated to assess how widespread illegal plates are and what could be done about them. The UK has 14,000 ANPR sites capturing 100 million number plates each day, according to the report. The camera tests are presented as efforts to identify ghost plates; the evidence does not say the technology has been adopted nationally.