Report vehicle cloning
Vehicle cloning involves criminals stealing or copying another vehicle’s registration plates, often choosing plates from a vehicle that looks like theirs.
The scam can result in the driver accumulating fines while the innocent owner of the original vehicle receives the financial penalties.
Victims usually do not realise their vehicles have been cloned until fines start arriving in the post, typically for speeding tickets, parking fines, bus-gate or bus-lane penalties, or congestion charges.
Evidence of vehicle cloning can be a:
- parking charge notice (PCN) from your council relating to a parking, bus-lane or bus-gate fine
- notice of intended prosecution (NIP) from the police for speeding or another offence
- letter or PCN from a private parking enforcement company
Report vehicle cloning
If you suspect or have evidence your vehicle’s number plate has been cloned, you can report it:
- online – fill in the report vehicle cloning form
- in person – visit a police station
Be aware…
A marker will be added to your number plate
After you report vehicle cloning and upload your evidence to us, we will update the Police National Database to show the vehicle registration has potentially been cloned.
A marker will be added to your registration number. This means you can be stopped at anytime anywhere in the UK until we are confident the cloned vehicle is off the road.
Patience required
Cloned vehicles are only ever used for criminality. As such, officers will not know which vehicle they are stopping until they have completed thorough checks, so be patient when you are stopped.
Fraudulent claims
If it is subsequently discovered that a fraudulent claim of cloning has been made, you may be subject to police action which might include charges of perverting the course of justice.