Another car driving with my registration
Discussion
A couple of months ago, I was given a parking fine for a place I've never been to, on a day when I didn't go anywhere.
I asked for photographic evidence, and it turned up today, and it is the same make and model of my car with my registration plate - however, there are some key differences:
1) There's no tow bar on the back of their car
2) There's no sunroof of their car
3) I've still got the dealer's sticker in the back window, and I can't see this in the pictures
Now, the quality of the pictures are pretty bad, and they're also black and white, which means it could be any colour - but the registration does look like mine.
I'll be off to the police station this evening to find out what to do from the DVLA/police front, but what should I do about the parking fine?
I asked for photographic evidence, and it turned up today, and it is the same make and model of my car with my registration plate - however, there are some key differences:
1) There's no tow bar on the back of their car
2) There's no sunroof of their car
3) I've still got the dealer's sticker in the back window, and I can't see this in the pictures
Now, the quality of the pictures are pretty bad, and they're also black and white, which means it could be any colour - but the registration does look like mine.
I'll be off to the police station this evening to find out what to do from the DVLA/police front, but what should I do about the parking fine?
Show Police the photos, show Police your car so that they can investigate (you may find your vehicle getting stopped once in a while until it's sorted).
Send back the ticket, contesting it wasn't your car for the reasons above & give the details of the officer who you reported it to, to the ticket office.
Send back the ticket, contesting it wasn't your car for the reasons above & give the details of the officer who you reported it to, to the ticket office.
Yes indeed - the lack of real police and the move to ' no arguments, pay up ' speedtraps by photo, have led to loads of cloning.
The problem is the police et al have become accustomed to the lazy pen-pushing type of money gathering, and they are not going to be easy to deal with on the cloning issue ( although to be fair, I am thinking more of the awful congestion charge people, who really do work on guilty until proven innocent...despite the CC being the major reason for cloning! )
Get every piece of evidence you can - the best is proof you were elsewhere when the offence took place.
As your car has been cloned, it is imperative you keep logs and as much photographic evidence as possible, ie digital photos with time and date throughout day - if they can include location proof ( your workplace sign behind car ) then that will really help you.
You are not going to be believed at the outset, so you MUST get evidence as above and keep it up.
The problem is the police et al have become accustomed to the lazy pen-pushing type of money gathering, and they are not going to be easy to deal with on the cloning issue ( although to be fair, I am thinking more of the awful congestion charge people, who really do work on guilty until proven innocent...despite the CC being the major reason for cloning! )
Get every piece of evidence you can - the best is proof you were elsewhere when the offence took place.
As your car has been cloned, it is imperative you keep logs and as much photographic evidence as possible, ie digital photos with time and date throughout day - if they can include location proof ( your workplace sign behind car ) then that will really help you.
You are not going to be believed at the outset, so you MUST get evidence as above and keep it up.
Thanks for those comments.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of evidence for the day of the parking offence (I've got logs from my email server, web server and also computer itself to show I was at home some 10 minutes after the car was parked about 60 miles away, but whether they believe them or not is a different matter).
Here's their pictures of "my" car:
And an actual picture of my car:
The sunroof isn't that obvious, but it's the only pictures I've got (apart from one taken quite a bit later on, when it was night, and you can't see anything other than the number plate, reflector and rear lights).
Other things (some already mentioned, some not)
- Different wheels
- Tow bar (which was fitted to the car when I bought it, so I don't think I have a receipt)
- Exhaust box (just about visible in their picture; not visible in mine)
- Ford badge (mine is clearly visible, but there's nothing on their picture)
- Dealer sticker in window (although their pictures probably aren't clear enough)
- Possibly a lighter colour (it would've been better if they'd given me a colour picture)
- Number plate letter spacing completely different
I'd agree that all of those would probably be easy to swap/change, and the sunroof is the best.
I am a bit concerned about them doing bad things, but I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it (I'm a bit loathed to buy a personal plate for a £200 car in order to switch it over). Both the Police and the DVLA have said that nothing's been reported on it yet.
The other thing is that the parking contract is between them and the person who parked the car; so far they haven't given me any evidence it was me.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of evidence for the day of the parking offence (I've got logs from my email server, web server and also computer itself to show I was at home some 10 minutes after the car was parked about 60 miles away, but whether they believe them or not is a different matter).
Here's their pictures of "my" car:
And an actual picture of my car:
The sunroof isn't that obvious, but it's the only pictures I've got (apart from one taken quite a bit later on, when it was night, and you can't see anything other than the number plate, reflector and rear lights).
Other things (some already mentioned, some not)
- Different wheels
- Tow bar (which was fitted to the car when I bought it, so I don't think I have a receipt)
- Exhaust box (just about visible in their picture; not visible in mine)
- Ford badge (mine is clearly visible, but there's nothing on their picture)
- Dealer sticker in window (although their pictures probably aren't clear enough)
- Possibly a lighter colour (it would've been better if they'd given me a colour picture)
- Number plate letter spacing completely different
I'd agree that all of those would probably be easy to swap/change, and the sunroof is the best.
I am a bit concerned about them doing bad things, but I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it (I'm a bit loathed to buy a personal plate for a £200 car in order to switch it over). Both the Police and the DVLA have said that nothing's been reported on it yet.
The other thing is that the parking contract is between them and the person who parked the car; so far they haven't given me any evidence it was me.
Yeah - just showed a mate of mine the pictures, and he also saw that. I'll have to add that to the list 
I've also found 2 postings I made from home at the time I was meant to be in the car park on Pistonheads.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
(first one has an edit I made at the time).
Yay! Something that I don't control has records of me!
(Although some people may actually dislike that )
I've also found 2 postings I made from home at the time I was meant to be in the car park on Pistonheads.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
(first one has an edit I made at the time).
Yay! Something that I don't control has records of me!
(Although some people may actually dislike that
)
Amusingly if you somehow worked this out it would be funny, just make your car plate really 'hot' get loads of fines, fuel runs etc drive buys (Ok I am kidding here) and then dump and burn the car and wait for the other person to get all the grief..
I don't advise it, but it would be funny to play them at their own game...
I don't advise it, but it would be funny to play them at their own game...
andyuk911 said:
If my reg was ever copied and I had a normal reg, I would go and buy any old one and put it on the car immediately... that must be the quickest and easiest fix.
Otherwise you will be in for a load of hassle ...
My car's worth less than buying a new plate Otherwise you will be in for a load of hassle ...
Although I may consider that (off to DVLA website!)
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