Britain's fake number plate crisis: How duplicitous drivers are buying £10 plates online to fool enforcement cameras into making millions of 'misreads' per day

Doctored number plates bought online for as little as £10 are being used to trick enforcement cameras and avoid Ulez charges.

An expert has warned there are about a million 'misreads' a day because of tampered plates.

Some are tinted which means some cameras can't read the plate and identify the driver, despite it looking normal to the naked eye.

Others implement subversive tactics such as using the wrong font or spacing.

Some are stolen, counterfeit or have black tape over them.

Automatic number plate recognition is used to regulate traffic laws, insurance, parking and congestion charges.

It is also used in low traffic neighbourhoods and to circumvent charges for clean air regulations like Ulez.

But a less mundane use of the technology which many people may not be aware of is in intercepting terrorism and protecting important places.

Former government surveillance camera commissioner Tony Porter told The Times that around 80 to 90 per cent of the 'misreads' are because of dimming - the practice of tinting a number plate.

Mr Porter warned that those wanting to avoid the Ulez charges in London are purchasing altered plates online for as cheap as £10.

But using tinted number plates is against the law and can result in penalties and fines.

While The National Police Chiefs' Council told the newspaper it doesn't collect data on non-compliant plates, Avon and Somerset police does.

In the last 18 months, it issued 2,184 notices of intended prosecution letters for doctored plates - tipped off by the public 232 times.

Fake number plates can be bought for as little as £10 from any of the 40,000 largely unregulated sellers while reflective 'stealth' tape to make plates invisible to ANPR infrared cameras can be purchased online for just £80.

MailOnline found one British website selling tinted plates for between £18 and £28, but it does clarify: 'Please note adding a tint to a number plate is not Road legal in the UK.'

A previous study, conducted from an ANPR camera trained on a dual carriageway in Gatwick, found 41 out of 683 number plates used some kind of anti-ANPR tech.

If this were extrapolated to the rest of the country, then this would be one-in-fifteen drivers in the UK.

Another study found 40 per cent of taxis and private hire cars had some sort of ANPR-defeating method on their number plates too.