Advice - Ghost Plates - Taxi trade updates

An instance of ghost plates on a Bolton licensed vehicle has come to the attention of the Licensing Team.  Instances have also been reported by other licensing authorities. 

Ghost or stealth plates as they have been referred are vehicle registration plates that have a special reflective coating, designed to evade number plate recognition technology, e.g. ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras.

These plates are unlawful and where vehicles are found to be fitted with ghost plates, the driver can be issued with a £100 penalty charge notice by the police.

Please see Government guidance on number plate requirements - Displaying number plates: Rules for number plates - GOV.UK

Amongst other requirements, the guidance states that number plates:

• must be marked to show who supplied the number plate (e.g. business name) and;
• must be marked with a British Standards number (which will be BS AU 145e for plated fitted after 1 September 2021

We would advise vehicle proprietors and drivers to check and ensure that the registration plates displayed on their vehicles are legally compliant, with the required markings to be displayed. 

Checks will also be conducted as part of the vehicle compliance test and on roadside enforcement activity. 

If a Bolton licensed vehicle is identified with ghost plates, the vehicle may be suspended and the vehicle or driver licence concerned could be referred to the Licensing and Environmental Regulatory Committee for consideration.

 Should you have any queries or concerns in respect of the above, please email licensing@bolton.gov.uk and we will be happy to assist.