Driving test fraud has soared, putting countless lives at risk, it has been reported.
Thousands of bogus candidates are targeting test centres to obtain licences on behalf of unskilled drivers, the Daily Mail reports.
The paper says the clients of such candidates are then free to take to the road and use their documents to open the door to government benefits, credit cards and bank accounts.
In the last year 4,830 practical tests were called off because of doubts over the driver's identity.
A similar number of theory tests are also understood to have been stopped, pushing the total towards 10,000.
But the Mail claims many more fraudsters are bound to have been successful.
The racket involves illegal immigrants and others who wish to have their true names concealed.
They use easily-forged ID to book a test and pay a lookalike up to £1,500 to pass for them.
Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland said it was clear the public was being put at "substantial risk".
She said: "The system is being systematically targeted by serious organised criminals who obtain driving-test pass certificates through candidate-impersonation fraud. As a result, people who have not demonstrated the necessary level of competence can obtain those certificates and full driving licences."
