Police crack down on plate crime (From Bicester Advertiser)

Police crack down on plate crime

5:00pm Monday 30th April 2007

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POLICE and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency are running a joint operation to crack down on the use of illegal number plates.

PC Peter Hare, of the Thames Valley Police Roads Policing Department, said over recent years there had been a growing trend to alter registration marks issued by the DVLA.

He said: "We will be running an operation to crack down on this fashion trend. "Drivers may see the altering of a number plate as trivial and harmless, but this is illegal and raises vehicle identification concerns following road incidents."

Roads Policing will be conducting number plate checks and motorists can expect to be stopped and given a fixed penalty notice if they are caught using illegal number plates.

Offenders may also find themselves in court and the DVLA could withdraw their registration number. Motorists can be fined up to £1,000 for displaying an illegal number plate.

PC Hare said: "If you buy number plates from a market stall or Internet website, they are not likely to comply with the law. It is advised that members of the public should always buy their number plates from legal suppliers.

"If a vehicle owner has illegal number plates on their car, they should change them immediately."

Police said number plates were most commonly altered by mis-spacing the characters to spell names or words, or motorists used different fonts to the regulation.

A police spokesman said: "Motorists often do this for aesthetic reason, but this poses a real road safety risk and is illegal.

"Number-plates must conform to DVLA regulations to allow police, other enforcement agencies and members of the public to be able to identify vehicles involved in non-stop collisions and other motoring offences such as speeding.

"Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) readers are used across the Thames Valley to prevent and detect crime. The same technology is used to identify uninsured vehicles. Illegal number plates jeopardise the effectiveness of these investigative police tools."

Further information can be found on the DVLA website and it is explained on their form V796. DVLA maintains a register of number plate suppliers and the register is available to view on the Internet at www.gov.uk/motoring.

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