DVLA announces October 10 pilot for new number plates

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) will begin a three-month pilot exercise for its new vehicle number plate system on October 10, 2026, the Chief Executive Officer of the Authority has announced.

According to the DVLA CEO, the pilot is expected to help the Authority identify challenges with the new system before its full implementation on January 1, 2027.

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Speaking at a press meeting with the media in a video posted by UTV Ghana and sighted by GhanaWeb on Friday, September 18, 2026, the CEO said the pilot would involve selected vehicles using temporary registration numbers.

“We want to start on the 10th of October. We want to do three months piloting to see the issues that will come with the system before full implementation on 1st of January,” he said.

He explained that the temporary numbers used during the pilot would be removed after the exercise, after which the vehicles would be issued their actual registration numbers.

“We will be seeing numbers with that type of numbers in town for the piloting. But after the piloting, we will take the numbers off from the cars and issue them with the actual numbers,” he stated.

The DVLA CEO also said the introduction of the new number plates would come with fresh checks on vehicles before new registration numbers are assigned.

He disclosed that the Authority had already helped impound about 230 vehicles within three months over issues relating to unpaid duties.

“I've helped DVLA to impound close to 230 cars in three months of implementation. So these 230 cars would have been in our system without these cars being or duties paid on these cars,” he said.

He said the situation raised questions about the number of vehicles that may have been registered over the years without the required duties being paid to the state.

“So you can imagine for the past years how many cars we have registered and duties have been paid to the government,” he added.

The CEO said the DVLA would therefore use the transition to the new number plates as an opportunity to verify vehicles before assigning them new registration numbers.

“Hence, in our quest to change to the new number plates, we are going to check every car again before we assign a new number to the car,” he stated.

He further announced that the DVLA would manufacture its own number plates as part of measures to improve control over the system.

“So the authority called DVLA will manufacture our own plates,” he said.

According to him, the Authority would also regulate and control the activities of private-sector companies that emboss number plates.

“Each and every director will regulate and control number plates being embossed by the private sector,” he stated.

He also indicated that the Authority would require adequate space to park vehicles identified during the exercise and expressed hope that the government could make the Independence Square available for that purpose.

He said the proposed reforms form part of efforts to improve the credibility of vehicle registration and ensure that motorists receive genuine number plates.

DVLA to Begin Pilot Exercise for New Number Plates on October 10#UTVGhana pic.twitter.com/UxBnabeJNN

— UTV Ghana (@utvghana) September 17, 2026

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