Thousands of illegal ghost plates on cars revealed by new cameras

Figure caption, Watch: What is a ghost plate?

Thousands of illegal registration plates on cars and other vehicles have been detected by a new camera system currently being tested on motorways in south-east England, BBC Panorama can reveal.

These plates have been adapted to avoid their details being identified by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems, which are used to enforce speed limits and low emission zones, as well as track criminals.

Illegal plates are putting the public at risk and are far too easy to get hold of, according to one former government advisor.

We have spoken to families who say their lives have been devastated by road deaths where illegal plates were involved.

Filming undercover, we also discovered how easy and cheap it is to buy plates without any background checks.