A 46-year-old man returned home from work but was unable to park outside his home in East Ham.

He drove around until he finally found a spot in Chesley Gardens, Four hours later he returned to his car to move it to outside his address, only to find that both number plates had been removed.

Newham Crime prevention Officer PC Andy Whitfield sounded a warning: “Stolen number plates allow people to get away with several offences, including driving away from petrol stations without paying, dodging the London congestion charge and evading speed camera fines – fines are often sent to the innocent owner of a vehicle which had its number plates stolen.

“Cars with stolen number plates are often used as getaway vehicles in more serious crimes.”

He advised motorist to report any loss of number plates to the police as soon as possible.

Also consider fitting ‘clutch head’ screws which are specially designed to be virtually impossible to remove. ‘They are very cheap to buy and easy to fit,’ he said, adding there are special number plates made which are designed to break apart if they are forcibly removed from a vehicle.