Online retail giant Amazon has banned the sale of car number plates after a BBC London investigation exposed illegal supply practices that allowed buyers to obtain plates without proper documentation checks.

 

Illegal Number Plate Sales Exposed

UK law mandates that companies must verify a buyer’s legal entitlement to a registration plate by checking documents like a driver’s license or V5 logbook. However, the BBC found that:

• Seven companies on Amazon supplied plates without requiring ID verification.

• Some firms claimed ID was required but dispatched plates without checking documents.

• Others ignored compliance rules altogether, allowing easy access to cloned plates.

Following the investigation, Amazon removed all identified listings and banned the sale of number plates, except for novelty versions.

 

How Number Plate Cloning Fuels Crime

Number plate cloning occurs when criminals place a copied registration on a similar-looking vehicle, enabling them to commit offenses while passing fines and penalties to the innocent owner.

The BBC's findings come amid a 64% rise in car cloning cases in London over three years, with 90,000 penalty charge notices cancelled between 2021 and 2023 due to fraudulent registrations.

 

Companies Caught Violating the Law

The BBC purchased plates from multiple suppliers, revealing widespread non-compliance:

• SLS UK Holdings Ltd, Plastic Services, Defence Line Ltd, and Domo Corporation Ltd all dispatched plates without requesting documentation.

• Official Plates Ltd and Meena Supplies Ltd claimed ID was necessary but failed to follow through.

• Reg Locker Ltd asked for documents via text but still sent plates when the request was ignored.

 

Call for Stricter Regulations

MP Ruth Cadbury, chair of the Transport Select Committee, called the findings “hugely troubling” and urged stronger enforcement. Rob Laugharne, managing director of Hills Number Plates, warned that outdated regulations have allowed online sales to spiral out of control.

The DVLA and Home Office have pledged to crack down on plate cloning, with a new Road Safety Strategy in development to tackle fraudulent vehicle registrations and related crimes.

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