It’s not quite the revolving carousel of number plates Q installed on James Bond’s Aston Martin in Goldfinger, but an American driver has still stunned a police officer with a cunning device designed to make sure they never paid tolls.

A California Highway Patrol cop first noticed something was amiss with the Volkswagen Jetta when it was observed driving in the express lane just north of San Francisco with no visible rear plate recently.

Rear view of a black VW Jetta with a California license plate; a hand holding a key fob is in the foreground near the trunk.
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Dashcam footage shows the patrol car start to follow the VW and a few kilometres later the number plate had mysteriously reappeared. Naturally, the officer pulled the car over, and the driver fessed up.

“Upon making an enforcement stop, the driver, sole occupant admitted to using the illegal device for one specific reason: to intentionally evade paying Express Lane and Bay Area bridge tolls,” the Solano branch of the CHP posted to Facebook.

The CHP’s video shows the officer operating the device by pressing a button on what appears to be a key fob. Activating it makes a black screen rise up from the bottom of the licence plate holder and completely obscure the registration. Another push sees it sink back down out of sight.

“It is strictly illegal to operate a vehicle with a switchable license plate frame, flipper or any product intended to obscure the reading or recognition of a license plate,” CHP Solano explained, adding that the base fine for doing so is US$250 ($350) but that amount “skyrockets” once state and county levies are added.

“Trying to cheat the toll system isn’t fair to the thousands of Solano County commuters who pay their share every day. Save yourself the trouble, the traffic stop and the hefty fines,” the CHP warned.