A discrepancy on your car or motorcycle number plate could leave you with three penalty points on your licence if a new proposal becomes law.

A Private Members Bill is being presented to the House of Commons by Conservative MP Andrew Griffith, with the aim of passing a law of punishing those vehicles which have obscured or missing number plates.

Current laws see a penalty of £100 for the offence, one which Griffiths claims is no real deterrent and is causing misery for his constituents, and sees him wanting to close the ‘loophole’ in the law.

He said: “This enables antisocial drivers on our roads, especially in rural areas, to defy both speed and number plate recognition cameras with relative impunity.”

Questions are being asked as to how the law will be enforced, with stretched police forces seeing their numbers on the roads dwindling. ANPR cameras have been suggested, but that in itself comes with technical issues according to motoring experts.

“There are multiple areas that need to be addressed with this bill,” said Jack Cousens from the AA. “Most importantly, we need more cops in cars to catch these drivers with illegal plates in the first place. Often the cars are involved in other crimes.

“Registration plates can be stolen from the cars of innocent drivers or bought online without any ownership checks. Likewise, plates can be made with illegal fonts and sizes. More must be done here to stop the ease with which plates can be cloned and printed.

“All too often, it is those innocent drivers who uncover the crime and then take the rap for other offences they haven’t committed - when they start receiving fines for those offences.”

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