A woman has accumulated nearly 1,000 license plates in Beijing and has been illegally renting them to temporary residents in the capital for the past decade, reports said.

Wang Xiuxia, a native of Tianjin City, was exposed after a driver she had rented a plate to was involved in a hit-and-run accident.

Since the plate was registered in her name, police contacted her about the case.

Yangcheng Evening News reported that officials from the vehicle management department with Beijing's traffic bureau said Wang has applied to have all the plates revoked. They did not say how many plates were in her name.

A car dealer in a Beijing used vehicle market told the newspaper Wang started her business about a decade ago.

Before March 2005, only Beijing permanent residents were allowed to get a plate. Temporary residents got around this regulation by paying Wang to use her identification card in order to get a car plate, The Beijing News reported. She also accumulated a large number of plates and rented them to temporary residents, the report said.

In March 2005, Beijing changed the regulation and allowed temporary residents the right to get license plates.

However, the city only allotted a certain number of plates each month, which made it difficult to get one. Thus Wang profited by renting out her license plates.

Wang's clients stand to lose their money if the plates are revoked.

One client was cited as saying he had paid 10,000 yuan (US$1,615) for life-long use of a plate.

According to the report, another client said: "I heard that hundreds of people were trying to find her, but she turned off her mobile phone."

Since January 2011, Beijing has used a lottery system to distribute 20,000 license plates each month.

There are more than 1 million applicants each month.

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