Ulez fines dodged by crafty Britons tricking Sadiq Khan's cameras with £10 trick

Police have suggested that as many as one in 15 road users could be doctoring their number plates in a bid to avoid being caught on camera.

Fake number plates can reportedly be purchased for as little as £10 and could be being used by Britons to dodge Ulez cameras.

According to the investigation, there could be as many as 40,000 unregulated sellers offering motorists fake number plates.

Road users have also been dodging the cameras with reflective “stealth” tape which allegedly makes number plates appear invisible to certain types of cameras.

Reflective tape can be purchased online for just £80 and could be used to dodge automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) infrared cameras which have been expanded in Ulez areas and 20mph speed limit zones.

The issue is far from new however, as former surveillance camera commissioner Tony Porter prepared a report back in June which found six per cent of cars had some form of “ANPR-defeating material”.

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Porter went on to say that there was “no doubt” people would look to avoid the zone charges and fines for speeding as Ulez expands.

“It’s not rocket science,” Porter explained.

“A lot of people will think they don’t want to embark on criminal damage of Ulez cameras but will be tempted to doctor their number plate to save £12 a day.

“The lack of regulation of the market for plates means we are exposing people to criminality.”

In a letter to Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, seen by The Telegraph, Porter explained the problem was growing.

He wrote: “There is a paucity of any credible or effective controls which govern the production, manufacture and supply of materials to construct number plates, nor are there any meaningful security provisions for the number plates themselves.

“The current regime in this country renders the unlawful manufacture and use of number plates and the fitting of number plates which are unreadable to the ANPR system, a relatively easy undertaking with little risk of such an act being detected by the relevant authorities.

“This problem is growing, as is borne out by current police experience.”