[60041]

I seem to remember that there was a proposal, 8 or 9 years ago, to make it compulsory to use number plates supplied by local licensing offices and that it would be illegal to buy plates from any other source: I think that the plates would have also incorporated a chip, embedded with details of the car.
They were opposed by the motor industry, then quietly dropped by the Tories on cost saving grounds when they won the election. Most of those local licensing offices have now been closed.
The present system does not work, and gives crooks every opportunity to avoid taxing their cars and to avoid speeding fines and congestion charges; something needs to be done urgently.
As an aside, when I bought my last car, I was told by the salesman that they had recently taken a car in as p/x and found that it had not been taxed for nearly 2 years, despite being driven daily.