Northland leaders alarmed by fake plates outsmarting speed cameras

A speed camera at Kauri on State Highway 1 on the outskirts of Whangārei. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Are fake registration plates outsmarting Northland’s speed cameras?

That is the worry of regional leaders who claim some drivers are using fake plates in unregistered or unwarranted vehicles.

Far North District councillor Ann Court was alerted to the issue by a NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) staff member who told her a significant amount of registration plates captured on their cameras did not match the vehicles.

The plates were considered either stolen or purposefully manufactured.

According to NZTA, drivers without valid registration plates were picked up by tolling and safety cameras, CCTV and roadside police.

However, the first fixed-speed camera in the Far North cannot as it does not have automatic number plate recognition.

Only speeding vehicles are picked up – meaning those with fake plates may be difficult to trace.

The Herald previously revealed NZTA cannot legally use the camera to target registrations or warrants.

NZTA contractors installing turning on the advanced traffic camera in Kawakawa earlier this year. Photo / David Fisher

A concerned Court, who is involved with the Northland Regional Transport Committee, wrote to police headquarters and a cohort of politicians, including Minister of Police Mark Mitchell, about the issue.

Police had previously told Court, not in response to her letter, that people were putting their registrations on hold but continuing to drive.

They reportedly said the issue was an epidemic.

“It just means a lot of people are getting a free ride,” she said.

Inspector Dean Robinson said police often suspected drivers with stolen or fake number plates might be planning to commit a crime.

Northland MP Grant McCallum said a number of drivers using fake number plates were claiming sovereign citizenship as a way to avoid paying registration or road user charges.

The only plates available to use in New Zealand were supplied by NZTA, he said.

Robinson said drivers with fake or stolen plates were a minority, given the volume of road users and vehicles on the road.

NZTA said it did not have any evidence unregistered vehicles were a new or significant issue in Northland.

Court criticised police and NZTA’s findings as political spin and believed they had the resources to show it was a big issue.

She said in a country with the highest car ownership in the world per capita, it was a spin on statistics to say those driving illegally were a minority.

“I don’t accept that it’s not a [bigger] issue. I’m hearing it and seeing it on the road.”

According to NZTA, displaying a non-approved plate or something that could be mistaken for a plate can land a maximum fine of $5000.

Brodie Stone is an education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.