Cloned plates on the shed

[Limpet]

I bought an Audi A3 shed in mid October, and was surprised to receive a penalty charge through the post a couple of weeks ago from Manchester City Council, for overstaying a pay and display ticket in Manchester City Centre in December. There was a delay in receipt due to a change of address in that time, but being Hampshire, then Dorset based, the car had never been within 200 miles of Manchester since I'd got it. I obviously appealed the ticket and asked for evidence, which they provided today.

What they have sent me are three decent quality images, clearly showing an Audi A3 in the same colour as mine, with the same plate. The saving grace for me is that the car in the pictures is a 3 door. Mine is a 5 dr Sportback, which also ties in with the V5.

I will obviously be starting with the police tomorrow, but any pointers as to what else I need to do and what world of grief I can expect over the coming months? Never had anything like this happen before.

Many thanks

[SiH]

I'd probably start by trying to establish the legitimacy of your car. Do all the VINs match (have you looked for the ones other than the usual windscreen one) and does everything tally up with the V5? You want to make sure that the A3 you've got it the kosher one and not the clone. Assuming that it's all above-board then I'd try to pull together whatever you might have to show you couldn't have been in the area at the time. Any receipts or home security camera footage or anything like that? I'm not saying this with any specific expertise, but more about what I'd be doing if I were in your shoes. Good luck getting it all sorted and hopefully some more-informed constructive advice will be along shortly!

[babelfish]

SiH said:

I'd probably start by trying to establish the legitimacy of your car. Do all the VINs match

Do you really think he needs to bother?

Limpet said:

The saving grace for me is that the car in the pictures is a 3 door. Mine is a 5 dr Sportback, which also ties in with the V5.

[p4cks]

The registration will have been cloned when the car was advertised for sale. The exact same thing happened to me when I advertised my car on Gumtree and despite living in Newcastle I was getting parking PCNs for Liecestershire. Thankfully, like you, my car was a 5 door and the one in the photos was a 3 door so I was saved (I did report it to Leicestershire Police also).

I eventually sold the car and let the new owner know, who I think contacted the DVLA for a change of plate. In future the VRMs will be hidden on any of my for sale ads

[Rob_125]

Depending on how much hassle you want, it might just be easier to buy a cheap private plate.

[Limpet]

Thanks everyone.

SiH said:

I'd probably start by trying to establish the legitimacy of your car. Do all the VINs match (have you looked for the ones other than the usual windscreen one) and does everything tally up with the V5? You want to make sure that the A3 you've got it the kosher one and not the clone.

I'm happy mine is the original, as it's a 5 door, which is what the car is registered as, but the cloned car is a 3 door. The VINs on mine all match each other and the paperwork, and I've had the car plugged into an OBD scan tool which pulls the VIN number off the ECU, and it matches what's on the car. As above, I suspect the plate was picked up from Autotrader when the car was advertised in October.

p4cks said:

The registration will have been cloned when the car was advertised for sale.

My thinking as well. It was a good advert with lots of photos, many of which clearly displayed the registration number. I'm just thankful for the scrote's poor attention to detail in terms of picking a car with the wrong bodystyle and number of doors

Rob_125 said:

Depending on how much hassle you want, it might just be easier to buy a cheap private plate.

This is looking like the best option, I think.

[Limpet]

Reported to the police and now have a reference number, and a soft marker on the plate, which means I am pretty likely to be pulled over when out and about. Not that I'm doing much of that at the moment, so I'm hoping the scumbag's lack of respect for the law extends to lockdown, and they get a run in with Manchester police first.

Going to find a cheap private plate I think. Life's too short for this nonsense.

Thanks everyone.

[p4cks]

£100

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/cherished-number-plate-...

They can be had for about £50-60 judging on sold listings:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_n...

[Hol]

Rob_125 said:

Depending on how much hassle you want, it might just be easier to buy a cheap private plate.

Gets my vote.

It can also be sold separately to the car later on, to recoup the money spent.


OP shouldn't have to go to those extreme, but it will remove the hassle of getting more tickets.

[Fish]

Happened to an MX5 we had but luckily the first we knew was when the cloned car was parked in a wall at high speed. It involved a lot of faf to get it off the insurance database as a recorded accident against me, luckily it then couldn't continue to drive around getting tickets.

Private plate sounds a good plan..

[Nimby]

Rob_125 said:

Depending on how much hassle you want, it might just be easier to buy a cheap private plate.

Just curious - how do the DVLA respond to queries on the original plates when you have a private reg? Do they say "invalid / not in use" or give your details anyway?

[anonymous-user]

happened to me, i had a megane, the perp was using a scenic.

Asked for a new reg, nothing, the police never got back to me.

[SiH]

babelfish said:

SiH said:

I'd probably start by trying to establish the legitimacy of your car. Do all the VINs match

Do you really think he needs to bother?

Limpet said:

The saving grace for me is that the car in the pictures is a 3 door. Mine is a 5 dr Sportback, which also ties in with the V5.

Ah yes... Missed that bit... It was late
And yes, I see that it was even later when you replied and did notice the key point

[Limpet]

Thanks all.

After sending some photos of my car and highlighting the differences between it and the one that was ticketed, Manchester City Council have just come back and said they are satisfied that the offending vehicle is a clone of my car, and have cancelled the PCN. So that's one issue dealt with.

I will write to the DVLA today to advise that the plate has been cloned. I will change the registration as well for a cheap private one, unless of course DVLA offer to issue a new registration. Not sure what the likelihood is of that (opinions seem to vary).