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Award for firm detecting illegal ghost plates

Nathan BevanSouth East
Watch: What is a ghost plate?

A Kent company has won a national prize for developing technology to crack down on illegal registration plates.

Dartford's MAV Systems has been awarded 'Innovation of the Year' at the 2026 Made in Britain Impact Awards for its automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.

Two years in the making, they detect cloned, disguised or deliberately manipulated 'ghost' plates, which are designed to evade standard traffic cameras - with one deployment detecting 628 suspected offenders in just 14 days.

"Our technology can see through those evasive techniques and give the police and local authorities an added advantage," said Helen Garrett, MAV's international business development manager.

"There are an awful lot of people hiding illegally operated vehicles in plain sight," she added.

"This is often an attempt to avoid congestion charges or speeding fines, but the use of cloned and ghost plates can go beyond that.

"Indeed, we are witnessing their increasing presence in escalating criminal activities."

Made In Britain Two men and a woman at an awards ceremony. One man is wearing a blue shirt, with grey hair, while the other has dark hair and is wearing a blue suit, blue tie and a white shirt. The woman standing between them has grey hair, tied back, and his wearing a black suit and a leopard print scarf. She is holding an awardMade In Britain
The team from MAV Systems receive their award from Made in Britain CEO, John Pearce

Garrett said that the firm's ANPR tech could also compare vehicle classification and registration data - including make, model and colour - thereby "helping authorities detect vehicles that would previously have been invisible to traffic and parking systems".

One test site, near the Dartford Crossing, has recorded an average of more than 1,000 ghost plates a day over several months.

Meanwhile, another site close to the Eurotunnel at Folkestone - which has been operational since 2024 - has recorded more than 400 instances a day.

Infographic explaining how illegal “ghost” number plates can evade infrared ANPR cameras. The top panel shows a standard registration plate being clearly read by an ANPR camera, displaying the plate number “AB 01 CQO”. The bottom panel shows a “ghost” plate using special plastic that deflects light, making parts of the registration number difficult for the infrared camera to read.

The technology has also been deployed at the Port of Dover, where it is said to have improved system performance by 20%.

"MAV Systems has developed an ingenious solution to a problem which has significant consequences for road safety and law enforcement," said John Pearce, CEO of Made in Britain, a not-for-profit trade organisation whose awards are now in their fifth year.

"This is an outstanding example of British engineering addressing a real-world problem."

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