High Security Number Plates In India And Sweden

A revolution is taking place in the Indian number plate world. From the 31st May all vehicle owners will need to switch to a High Security Registration Number Plate (HSRNP). Such a system has already been successfully implicated in Sweden where it has been running for a number years.

On 1st June 2005 the Indian government first announced the use of HSRNP in a bid to cut car crime. These new tamper proof plates feature a patented chromium hologram, both the chassis and engine numbers and a retro-reflective film with the inscription "India". The new security plates will make it much harder for criminals to swap number plates on stolen cars and will also help the police track stolen cars.

Five years after its initial announcement and after a number of problems along the way the Regional Transport Authority are finally preparing to enforce the new system.

A similar system has also been suggested for the UK. This was highlighted in a recent BBC One documentary which looked at ways the government and police are tying to cut car crime. The documentary highlighted the success of the high security number plate system in Sweden and reported how car crime in the country has fallen dramatically. Not only has the number of cars stolen dropped but those avoiding road tax and vehicle insurance payments has fallen.

While there are without doubt many benefits to introducing security number plates to the UK there are of course many obstacles that would need to be overcome first. One of the greatest challenges would be to get all 33 million vehicles in the UK to change over to the new number plates. The cost of such an exercise would be colossal and with the country coming out of the recession with many still facing unemployment it is perhaps impossible to undertake currently. It is perhaps inevitable that such a system may be introduced at some stage, yet we are unlikely to see highsecurity number plates on the streets of Britain any time soon.

When the HSRNP system is introduced, it will most likely occur with the launch of a new registration year and will see all new cars registered after that date featuring the new plates. The onus will then be on car owners to purchase new plates, most likely within an enforced time frame. It's expected that owners of luxury cars will be amongst the first to purchase the new highsecurity number plates in order to provide an extra level of protection for their cherished cars.