Reporting cloned car number plates just got easier

Police chiefs have teamed up with the DVLA to deliver a new online reporting service for victims of suspected number plate cloning that allows local reporting where the vehicle is registered and direct sharing with the vehicle licensing agency.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council says that reporting will now be more seamless with enhanced data sharing making it easier for victims and more efficient to transfer data between agencies. This is a step forward from the previous system where victims had to report to both police and the DVLA separately.

A cloned number plate is a fake copy of a real vehicle’s registration plate. Criminals put these copied plates onto another car, which is often the same make, model, and colour to hide the car’s true identity and avoid getting caught breaking the law.

The system allows individuals, their representatives or businesses to report illegal number plates as part of a crackdown on a range of criminal behaviour that spans penalty charge evasion to facilitation of burglary and theft, through serious and organised crime. Police chiefs say that cloning costs society a minimum of £30m per year.

Commenting on this part of the government’s Road Safety Strategy, NPCC lead Chief Constable Tim Forber said number plate cloning is a “distressing experience” for victims and that he wanted to make the process for reporting “as straightforward and supportive as possible.”

“As well as providing an improved experience for victims, the national tool will help us to better collate data to understand the scale of the problem with cloned plates, working alongside our partners at DVLA and across government to tackle the issues associated with illegal number plates.”

Chief Constable Tim Forber, NPCC ANPR lead.

To report a suspected cloned number plate visit your local police force website and follow the links from Report and follow the insntructions from there.

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