Bus Lane Contravention penalty

[dave_s13]

Fks sake..

Got a letter from Reading Borough Council about being in a bus lane.

They have photo and video evidence of the car and here is the car contravening the bus lane....



The issue is, although that car has the same number plate as my car, it's not my fkin car!!!

You can see above it has a panaroramic roof.

You can see here that my car doesn't



I also have never been to Reading.

No worries I think and I go online and write a message explaining that, yes, the number plate is the same but it isn't me and it isn't my car. I actually sold the car shortly after the offence and supplied them with a link to the ad so they could see the lack of pano roof. It's still for sale here.


https://www.mercland.com/car.html?id=4512


What I wrote back






Today I get this through the post.




wtf??
Yeah, I said it was sold but AFTER the offence you retards.



I have replied to them again asking they to look closely at the message I wrote initially and ask that they stop contacting me regarding any liability I may have on this matter or I'll be seeking legal advice and recovering costs, probably.

TL:DR

A car with same number plate and the same model as my old car got snapped in a bus lane somewhere I, or the car I use to own, have never, ever been. The useless cnts didn't understand this. Not sure what to expect next really but it's bloody annoying and another layer of fking stress I don't need.

Edited by dave_s13 on Thursday 20th September 19:04

Edited by dave_s13 on Thursday 20th September 19:04

[dave_s13]

Oh, and depending how carefully you read the images, my dog nearly died, cost 2 grand in vets bills and still isn't quite right. Did Reading council even think to enquire about her wellbeing. Did they fk, bds.

[anonymous-user]

Is there a photo showing the plate on the car in the bus lane more clearly

I suspect a close inspection might show there is a character different on the plate compared to the one cited in the letter

Happens fairly often

[Camelot1971]

Why would they be interested in what happened to the car AFTER the offence? At the time of the ticket, YOU owned the car.

Rather than the inane waffle you wrote in your letter to them, you should have said either:

a) the plate has been cloned and it wasn't my car or

b) you have the plate wrong - can you recheck the picture as it's not my car I can see and I have never been there

[dave_s13]

I said:

.As I stated previously I was the owner of a Mercedes with this registration number at the time of the offence but it WAS NOT, AND IS NOT, THE SAME CAR.

I sold the car on 08/09/18 AFTER the offence, I only mentioned this so I could refer you to the classified ad for the car where you can see my old car does not have a panoramic roof whereas the car video'd in the offence DOES have a panaromic roof.

The car in the offence can only be on cloned number plates.

That's what I replied earlier on.....just not sure what to expect back.

Edited by dave_s13 on Thursday 20th September 21:24

[dave_s13]

JPJPJP said:

Is there a photo showing the plate on the car in the bus lane more clearly

I suspect a close inspection might show there is a character different on the plate compared to the one cited in the letter

Happens fairly often

Yes but I can't put it up here without firing up the other pc. It looked pretty clear from what I remember but I'll have a closer look later.

[Mandat]

Camelot1971 said:

Why would they be interested in what happened to the car AFTER the offence? At the time of the ticket, YOU owned the car.

Rather than the inane waffle you wrote in your letter to them, you should have said either:

a) the plate has been cloned and it wasn't my car or

b) you have the plate wrong - can you recheck the picture as it's not my car I can see and I have never been there

This. Your e-mail to them is all over the place and waffly.

You haven't managed to get the point across that the car in the bus lane has a cloned plate, which should be the thrust of your argument.

What's the point in the sob story about your dog being sick? If the number plate has been cloned, then your dog is irrelevant to the story.

[NorthernSky]

Reading BC are complete tossers when it comes to fines. Had a friend who had a wheel in a bus lane for all of 1 second and got snapped/fined for this 'offence', and the people tasked with replying to defence letters and emails like the OP's are programmed, like drones, to ignore or deny your evidence against the PCN.

Keep persisting and challenging and threaten court action against them for loss of your time/dogs health etc. Don't let them get away with it. Good luck.

[HTP99]

I was in Reading over the festival weekend in August; I drove up every day to the festival, given their reputation for their bus lane enforcement I was so on edge every day as I was convinced I'd make a small mistake and end up in a bus lane or stuck in a yellow box junction, it's such a st place to drive in and being busy at the time it makes it so much harder especially when it's not familiar.

Whilst looking for parking for a McDonald's I did end up almost entering a bus only section and ended up having to reverse out into the entrance of a pedestrian only part.

So far no fine so I think I'm OK.

[NGee]

Reading BC is full of idiots (like most councils but that's another story!)

A few years ago I drove a legally registered taxi (Hackney carriage) in a 'Buses and Taxis only' lane in Reading. The owner and RK of the taxi got the standard 'invoice'. He replied to Reading BC stating nothing illegal had been done and enclosed a copy of the West Berkshire taxi licence and a photo of the 'Buses and Taxis only' sign. They replied by saying that the sign only applied to Reading taxis! He replied by saying he would let them explain that one to the judge and would not be communicating with them any more.

He never heard any more from them.

[dave_s13]

Mandat said:

Camelot1971 said:

Why would they be interested in what happened to the car AFTER the offence? At the time of the ticket, YOU owned the car.

Rather than the inane waffle you wrote in your letter to them, you should have said either:

a) the plate has been cloned and it wasn't my car or

b) you have the plate wrong - can you recheck the picture as it's not my car I can see and I have never been there

This. Your e-mail to them is all over the place and waffly.

You haven't managed to get the point across that the car in the bus lane has a cloned plate, which should be the thrust of your argument.

What's the point in the sob story about your dog being sick? If the number plate has been cloned, then your dog is irrelevant to the story.

Yes, maybe it's a bit convoluted, I shouldn't get penalised for telling a tale though, the thick tts should read and understand the point of the message!

The dog thing was a poor way to determine that the car was up in leeds late afternoon at the vets, which could be proven by their records, an alibi if you will. I was tired and emotional when I wrote it so there you go.

My response yesterday was more to the point.

Hopefully they will now leave me alone, fking parasites.

[joropug]

I may be able to help here the same thing happened to me:

-Car for sale on Auto trader
-Forgot to blank the plate
-Penalty received for failing to pay the £2.50 dart charge !! I live 2.5 hrs away.
-Fine was literally £2.50
-Sold the car same day I received it in the post !

Firstly, DO NOT PAY ANYTHING. If that car was involved in a crime (such as a robbery) you're essentially admitting you were in the area.

Secondly, phone the police and get a crime reference number. Dart couldn't do anything without it.

Then:
-Identify discrepancies as you have done (only difference on mine was the number plate was printed badly lopsided and I could demonstrate it didn't match mine in relation to the grill being the centre point.
-Gather any evidence you may have to prove you were not in the area. Ok so this was me being overly cautious but i:
---Had proof I was in a job interview at the time (calendar print out)
---Had CCTV of my car coming on site in the morning thanks to security
---Was not possible to have reached the offence area even if I had left straight away
---Got print outs of my electronic gate scans to get in and out of building on that day, my dad who works in the same building did the same thing as the only named driver other than me.

The police were helpful, but was pissed when a month later they asked if I wanted a notice put on the car so it's pulled over...pointless over a month later especially as it wasn't my car now and didn't want to annoy the new owner.

Hope it's resolved. I wouldn't worry though just follow the process and use the words crime and cloned as opposed to merely not my car.

[silverfoxcc]

Dave

put all this on pepipoo in the council thread

They have good knowledge of the rapacious buggers at reading, and theyshould be able to give you assistance on how to telll RBC (politely) to F**K OFF

They even tried it on with one of our charity buses once, in the bus lane took a while but they got the message NOW they do have some signs that state BUses ( local) only Bracknell have also got into the act

Dont send them a bean until the lads at pepipoo have given it the once over

[Mandat]

dave_s13 said:

the thick tts should read and understand the point of the message!

What was the point of your message?

From what you have told us, your car appears has been cloned but you have not mentioned this anywhere in your correspondence with the council.

How are they to know that you claim it was cloned if you haven't told them that it was cloned?

[dave_s13]

Mandat said:

What was the point of your message?

From what you have told us, your car appears has been cloned but you have not mentioned this anywhere in your correspondence with the council.

How are they to know that you claim it was cloned if you haven't told them that it was cloned?

The main part of my reply last night was.....

As I stated previously I was the owner of a Mercedes with this registration number at the time of the offence but it WAS NOT, AND IS NOT, THE SAME CAR.

I sold the car on 08/09/18 AFTER the offence, I only mentioned this so I could refer you to the classified ad for the car where you can see my old car does not have a panoramic roof whereas the car video'd in the offence DOES have a panaromic roof.

The car in the offence can only be on cloned number plates

Edited by dave_s13 on Friday 21st September 12:47

[dave_s13]

Mandat said:

What was the point of your message?

From what you have told us, your car appears has been cloned but you have not mentioned this anywhere in your correspondence with the council.

How are they to know that you claim it was cloned if you haven't told them that it was cloned?

The main part of my reply last night was.....

[i]As I stated previously I was the owner of a Mercedes with this registration number at the time of the offence but it WAS NOT, AND IS NOT, THE SAME CAR.

I sold the car on 08/09/18 AFTER the offence, I only mentioned this so I could refer you to the classified ad for the car where you can see my old car does not have a panoramic roof whereas the car video'd in the offence DOES have a panaromic roof.

The car in the offence can only be on cloned number plates[/i]

Edited by dave_s13 on Friday 21st September 12:47

[dave_s13]

joropug said:

I may be able to help here the same thing happened to me:

-Car for sale on Auto trader
-Forgot to blank the plate
-Penalty received for failing to pay the £2.50 dart charge !! I live 2.5 hrs away.
-Fine was literally £2.50
-Sold the car same day I received it in the post !

Firstly, DO NOT PAY ANYTHING. If that car was involved in a crime (such as a robbery) you're essentially admitting you were in the area.

Secondly, phone the police and get a crime reference number. Dart couldn't do anything without it.
.....

Interesting, thanks.

I don't really want to be bothering the five-oh with it, but maybe I should, just to be on the safe side.

[dave_s13]

silverfoxcc said:

Dave

put all this on pepipoo in the council thread

They have good knowledge of the rapacious buggers at reading, and theyshould be able to give you assistance on how to telll RBC (politely) to F**K OFF

They even tried it on with one of our charity buses once, in the bus lane took a while but they got the message NOW they do have some signs that state BUses ( local) only Bracknell have also got into the act

Dont send them a bean until the lads at pepipoo have given it the once over

Good point also.

I might contact the police in the 1st instance, get a crime number then pass that on to Reading. See what happens, if anything, from there.

[jamei303]

dave_s13 said:

Interesting, thanks.

I don't really want to be bothering the five-oh with it, but maybe I should, just to be on the safe side.

Yes, you don't want a 5am raid and to be arrested for armed robbery or running over some children to do you?

[joropug]

I felt like an idiot contacting the police but DART told me I'd need to. I'm glad I did, the local police were quite reassuring. What I mentioned about possible crimes and fines is also important , I suspected mine was just used to transport a stolen car or a trader without insurance etc but you never know .

You need to as above advised just simplify the facts and report it to them.

-Car plates must have been cloned
-Here is proof not the same car (pictures , ask for email address)
-Please note the car has actually been sold since so I am not the current keeper, but at the time of the alleged offence the cloned vehicle was in my possession