Number Plate Format

[AMDHIL]

Hi

Ive been summoned to court due to the spacing on my number plate being 22mm in place of 33mm. This was spotted by an off duty police officer from the pavement whilst I was travelling at 40MPH whom reported me.

My mitigation is that I knew that the plate was incorrect however my previous correct plate had broken and consequently I had this very slightly incorrect plate on for a approx 2 weeks. (I still have the original broken plate)

I sent a letter and cheque for £100 and explained that I believed it was unfair to ask me to pay £100 when everyone else gets warning letter, the police responded with a court summons.

I would like to present all the mitigating issues as I believe I'm being targeted by the police as consequence of proving a police officer to be a liar using on board CCTV (separate incident)

My question is if I am convicted of having a none compliant number plate then:

Could I be given points even though none compliant number plate is none endorsable?

The court summons was sent in excess of 6 months of the date of the incident by 20 days, will the case still be heard in court?

Will I have a criminal record if I am convicted, and how bad is this?

Thanks for any help

MDH

[AMDHIL]

Snowboy said:

I think we're not getting the full story here.

I'm not really sure how you could pay the fine AND get a court summons.
I guess it depends on exactly what the letter said or how you'd filled out the cheque.

I would guess the altered spacing significantly changed the look of the plate to such a degree it was very easily noticed and remembered by an off duty cop.

The six months thing is a red herring - you were contacted in plenty of time. .

The comment about 'police revenge' may have some truth.
But, another way to look at it is that if someone gets known to the police then the police watch out for them.
Are you a repeat traffic offender?
Are you a repeat customer of her majesties constabulary?

I sent a cheque but it was not cashed, business cheque and I have a stub

I have clean licence I have never had any points despite holding a licence since the of 17, I'm now 30

The only brush with the law I had was when a police officer said I pulled out in front of him, I was speeding, and driving dangerously, the only reason i was not prosecuted was because I have a onboard DVR recorder and I showed the footage to the officers senior inspector, in fear of repercussion i did not make a formal complaint but a note has been stored on the police database.

I drive a very distinct car (Bentley Continental)

I'm a IT professional in managerial position

Side note:
Ive recently legally evicted tenants from a house i rent out, Had I not been afraid of a criminal record I could have had these tenants evicted for £50 in much shorter period. The legal process cost me over £3000.

Im genuine, but I don't mind you being sceptical, i hope the above clears things up

The law bullies people that respect it, I could have left the broken number plate on and no one would have battered and eye lid despite half a letter being missing, (the reason I had the invalid plate was because I used to have it on an old car about 3 years ago and was asked to take it off by the police)

Edited by AMDHIL on Wednesday 16th July 08:57

[AMDHIL]

La Liga said:

t's easier to blame something / someone else rather than having to accept responsibility.

Having said that, if I were that bothered about a plate whilst off-duty (I wouldn't be), I'd probably pop around to the RK's address and sort it informally (if possible). But then that's the lottery one plays when picking and choosing which road traffic laws to comply with.

How would you explain the incident which I caught on camera?

[AMDHIL]

eccles said:

I got an advisory on my last MOT for my front number plate (part of a letter had been jet washed off). I drove from the garage to my local car shop, walked out 7 minutes later with a new number plate. Drove home, drilled a couple of holes in the new plate and screwed it on. All this within about half an hour of it being snagged.
Instead of faffing around fitting dodgy plates, why not get a new plate or drive your car to a garage and get them to fit you one.... it's really not very hard.

Because the fault was so minor, anyone normal it would not have bothered, definitely does not constitute a off duty officer reporting the fault. Its undoubtedly envy!

[AMDHIL]

berlintaxi said:

Who owns the car? You were trying to pay with a company cheque, is it their car, if so I wouldn't worry about it.

Its my company

[AMDHIL]

Jon1967x said:

I think the OP feels that this makes him above the law. Lets say he's been issued with a notice to get it fixed (it seems he's been told of the plate before) so BiB sees him around a long time after still not having bothered to do so (and given car etc its not for shortage of cash, its just him giving 2 fingers to the law). So they follow up, and he gets fined. His letter then probably sets out that he's not admitting guilt and goes into a rant and so payment is redundant. I can believe this is a more credible explanation that some massive conspiracy theory and the OP being a marked man

The information I have provided is fact, its unrealistic to suggested otherwise. If you read the full discussion you would realise that I have lost thousands in pursuit of obeying the law, you will also realise that I have been treated badly by the police and proved the wrong recently. These are the facts anything else is an assumption conjured up in an individual's heads . you can't make up part of a story? thats totally unfair on me?

[AMDHIL]

Jon1967x said:

You admit you'd been warned of the plate and did nothing about it. You admit you wrote giving them a piece of your mind. If you're in the right, go to court and have your fun there having tried to pay the FPN but as stated repeatedly what happens or not to others is no defence (otherwise we'd all be arguing over speeding tickets). I dare say you've bad issues in the past and you may well have been right, my point is simply that in this instance the information you have provided suggests that on it's own merits you've ended up where you are.

Your correct in that I was warned a long time ago on a different car

however i did not give them a piece of my mind I simply said in a very civil manner that had a valid reason for having the plate on

I have had no past issues!!!! the reason I spent 3k on evicting tenants legally as opposed to spending £100 on getting them physically kicked out to stay on the right side of the law (I mention this to show I'm a law abiding person)

Your jumping t conclusions again, yes I have my own business and a flash car, I didn't get it for free. I got it by working three jobs and 4 hours a sleep a day.

Im sorry but I wasn't asking for colombo to solve the case but I was simply asking a few questions based on the information I have provided. I have no reason to lie to the people on this forum as you guys cannot cancel the summons for me

[AMDHIL]

Mk3Spitfire said:

VDRS is obsolete in some forces, including mine. Another example of our discretion being taken away from us.
As for the story...I also believe there may be more to it.
How do you know an off duty officer spotted you? How do you know you were doing 40mph at the time they spotted it? The whole cheque thing is strange. The whole scenario is strange.

The witness statement from the officer provides all this information

(please just accept im telling the truth)

This does happen, I have in a separate incident been accused formally by a police officer and the only reason I was able to prove him wrong was with on board video footage. There are corrupt police officers and I was victimised for driving a nice car. I chose not to make a formal complaint because he had been in the force for 15 years with a clean record and he has a family

[AMDHIL]

The other issue is that I actually provided the payment

[AMDHIL]

Steffan said:

Yes the "I knew it was illegal but I did it anyway" is an interesting take on complying with the law. If t works very few law breakers would ever be prosecuted. I cannot see much merit in the complaint.

Law is not black and white, "The law will do what ought to be done" hence the reason for being able to present mitigating circumstances

[AMDHIL]

Jon1967x said:

???

Jon1967 if you actually read it then you will realize your comment makes no sense. "A police officer lied about me and i proved my case with irrefutable evidence"

Edited by AMDHIL on Thursday 17th July 00:22

[AMDHIL]

Mk3Spitfire said:

I don't understand this targeting people because of the car they drive. It's never occurred to me. The only time I have ever stopped someone because of their car was to admire it, although he was speeding too. (Stunning e-type). As for your plate issue, you could try phoning your forces traffic process unit.
As for the officer who was lying, regardless of his clean record, if you had irrefutable evidence he was corrupt, you should have had a word with his supervisors. Over zealous, corrupt officers give the rest of us a bad name.

I did have a word with his inspector, who was gutted when I showed him the video footage, I was also scared of repercussions hence the reasons for not making a formal complaint

[AMDHIL]

Ok thanks for your help everyone, just managed to get a hold of my brother whom is barrista, he has advised me that considering the case was not brought to court within 6 months it will be thrown out of court.

Thanks for all your help guys, Ill hand this one over to little bro.

[AMDHIL]

On a side note:

Ive been completely honest on this forum, there is something fishy and I believe it 100% as result of me being able to prove the officer wrong on the original incident...I know what I am saying is the truth, people have got to get it out there heads that all officers are angels. (dont get me wrong some are, officers are absolutely fantastic)

[AMDHIL]

Mr Classic said:

Does he work in Costa or Starbucks?

Ha ha very funny, what i meant was barrister. funnily enough he does make a really good cup of coffee

classic!

[AMDHIL]

Seems that everyone isn't reading the full list of posts and getting a little carried away with the assumptions?

[AMDHIL]

AMDHIL said:

Hi

Ive been summoned to court due to the spacing on my number plate being 22mm in place of 33mm. This was spotted by an off duty police officer from the pavement whilst I was travelling at 40MPH whom reported me.

My mitigation is that I knew that the plate was incorrect however my previous correct plate had broken and consequently I had this very slightly incorrect plate on for a approx 2 weeks. (I still have the original broken plate)

I sent a letter and cheque for £100 and explained that I believed it was unfair to ask me to pay £100 when everyone else gets warning letter, the police responded with a court summons.

I would like to present all the mitigating issues as I believe I'm being targeted by the police as consequence of proving a police officer to be a liar using on board CCTV (separate incident)

My question is if I am convicted of having a none compliant number plate then:

Could I be given points even though none compliant number plate is none endorsable?

The court summons was sent in excess of 6 months of the date of the incident by 20 days, will the case still be heard in court?

Will I have a criminal record if I am convicted, and how bad is this?

Thanks for any help

MDH

To bring the post back on track see, above, these are the facts whether they sound unbelive or not thats the truth. information based on any assumptions does not have much value as all they are, are assumptions. I was really looking for educated guesses on the information provided. Don't mean to be rude, but the scenarios conjured up on some responses are incredible.

Please dont take this negatively i don't mean to be rude


So far my three question have been answered thus:

Could I be given points even though none compliant number plate is none endorsable?
answer: No points should be given

The court summons was sent in excess of 6 months of the date of the incident by 20 days, will the case still be heard in court?
answer: This is not good for the prosecution, and will probably be thrown out of court

Will I have a criminal record if I am convicted, and how bad is this?
answer: No, as its a minor offence same a speeding etc

Edited by AMDHIL on Thursday 17th July 07:16

[AMDHIL]

Pothole said:

Batted.

Why did you not get a new plate in two weeks?

(nobody cares what you do or what you drive, it's immaterial, and citing possible plod revenge is ridiculous)

Honestly, I was being complacent,

in relation to plod revenge had I not had video evidence then when the original plod lied about speeding, pulling out at a round about, and running a red light would have been a ridiculous thought though. I would have been convicted of this lets face it how many people have dashboard camera fitted in there car? I wonder how many people have been victimised by envious police officers. (this was my own little pleb gate, its a scary thought that this happens, but the fact of the matter is it does!)

Edited by AMDHIL on Thursday 17th July 08:21

[AMDHIL]

berlintaxi said:

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.

Seriously, get over yourself.

thanks thats some constructive advice!,

[AMDHIL]

vonhosen said:

You're welcome.

Thanks this is a great answer