DfT Asks Whether Fake Number Plates and Untaxed Cars Should Mean Points and Seizure

• A Department for Transport consultation asked whether incorrect or false number plates, vehicles with no identifiable keeper and untaxed vehicles should bring penalty points and vehicle seizure.
• DfT’s own text says offences such as incorrect number plates and no identifiable current keeper carry no extra penalties like points or seizure, and a seizure power would copy the one used against uninsured drivers.
• Nothing has changed in law: the consultation closed on 11 May 2026 with no preferred option and no penalty levels, and DfT says it is analysing the responses.

DfT Wants Views on Points and Seizure for Fake Plates, Unknown Keepers and Unpaid Car Tax

The Department for Transport has asked the public whether three groups of motoring offence should carry penalty points, vehicle seizure or both. The questions sit inside a consultation called Proposed changes to penalties for motoring offences, which opened at 11:30am on 7 January 2026. The groups are driving with incorrect, altered or false number plates, driving a vehicle for which no current keeper is identifiable, and driving without vehicle excise duty, the tax most drivers know as car tax.

The consultation text says some motoring offences do not carry extra penalties such as penalty points or vehicle seizure. It lists a vehicle’s roadworthiness, meaning the lack of an MOT, cases where no current keeper is identifiable, and incorrect, altered or false number plates. Each of those gets its own pair of questions: should the offence bring penalty points, and should it bring seizure of the vehicle. Vehicle excise duty gets the same pair. The number plate section also lists illegal plates that the document calls ghost number plates.

Six questions in all cover the three groups. The two on a missing keeper ask about points and seizure. The two on number plates ask the same. The two on vehicle excise duty do too. The document does not say what the points or the seizure rules would look like, so there is no proposed number of points, no proposed fine and no proposed release fee for any of them.

What the Questions Say About Seizure and Why DfT Is Asking

The document explains where the seizure idea comes from. Police already have powers to seize a vehicle from someone driving without insurance, or driving in a way that does not match their licence. DfT says it would mirror the no insurance seizure provisions, with room for discretion and proportionality. That wording suggests officers would keep a choice about when to use the power rather than seizing every vehicle that breaks the rule.

On car tax, DfT gives a reason. It says there is a significant amount of evidence of people disguising a vehicle’s true ownership to avoid vehicle excise duty requirements. That points to the link between the three groups: a car with a false plate, no traceable keeper and no tax is hard to connect to anyone. The text gives no figures for how many vehicles fall into that position, so the scale of the problem is not measured in the pages reviewed.

For comparison, the same consultation sets out what an uninsured driver already faces: a fixed penalty of £300 and 6 penalty points, or an unlimited fine and possible disqualification. Our report on What DfT Plans for Uninsured Drivers Now Facing a £300 Fine and 6 Points covers that part of the document. The new questions ask nothing like that level of detail, which is why they read as an early sounding of opinion rather than a plan.

Where the Consultation Stands and Why Nothing Has Changed Yet

The consultation is closed. A foreword from Lilian Greenwood MP opens the document, and an update recorded on 16 February 2026 moved the closing time to 11:59pm on 11 May 2026. The document states that it does not present a preferred option. DfT’s page says it is analysing the feedback and promises a summary of responses within three months of the closing date, which points to about 11 August 2026. When these pages were read for this article, the page still showed no outcome.

That means no new penalty exists. The pages reviewed show no draft regulations and no start date, and a question in a consultation is not a rule. A driver with a false plate or an untaxed car faces only whatever penalties already apply today. This article does not list those, as the consultation document does not set them out for these three groups either.

The wider document is about road safety. Its foreword cites 1,602 deaths on British roads in 2024 and 27,865 serious injuries. None of the plate, keeper or tax questions comes with casualty data of its own, and the text gives no conviction counts for them, so the case for change on these three points rests on the policy argument about disguised ownership rather than on published numbers.

Consultations of this kind follow three steps: the questions, a published government response, and then, if ministers decide to proceed, legislation with a start date. This one has finished the first step and is waiting on the second. Even a decision to go ahead would not make a false plate or an untaxed car carry points overnight, as the rules would have to be written, published and brought into force first.

How These Questions Fit Alongside the Rest of the Consultation

The plate, keeper and tax questions are a small part of a long list. The MOT questions ask the same pair about driving without a valid MOT, which we covered in DfT Proposes Penalty Points and Car Seizure for Driving Without a Valid MOT. The failure to stop section asks about longer time limits and tougher maximums, covered in DfT Could Add 5 to 10 Points for Drivers Failing to Stop for Police.

Other sections ask whether lying to get car insurance should bring penalty points or disqualification. At present, the document says, a magistrates’ court can impose up to 6 months in prison and a fine, the Crown Court up to 2 years, with up to 10 years if prosecuted under the Fraud Act, and no points or disqualification. It also asks whether the maximum penalties for driving without a licence, now a fine of up to £1,000, 3 to 6 penalty points and possible disqualification, should rise, noting that driving while disqualified carries up to 12 months in custody.

One more question concerns speed and red light camera cases, where the law gives a 6 month time limit that includes the time a registered keeper takes to name the driver. The document asks whether that clock should start when the driver’s details reach the authorities, and describes the current rule as open to abuse and delaying tactics.

What Drivers Should Take From It for Now

A driver whose car is taxed, insured, tested and fitted with correct plates is untouched by anything in the document, as every question concerns an offence. For everyone else, the practical point is that the Department has put points and seizure on the table for offences that currently carry neither, according to its own description.

The no identifiable keeper question is a reminder to tell the DVLA quickly when you sell or buy a car, so the record names the right person. Keep proof of the date and the new keeper’s details when you sell. The tax and plate questions need no action beyond keeping both in order.

Drivers who want to follow the outcome can check the consultation page, which DfT says will carry the download of the outcome when it is ready. Until DfT publishes its response, the questions are only questions. If the government decides to go ahead, a published response would be the first place the points, the seizure rules and any start date would appear, and the consultation page is where DfT says the outcome will be posted.

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Sources:

• GOV.UK: Proposed changes to penalties for motoring offences
• GOV.UK: Proposed changes to penalties for motoring offences (consultation document)