DazV

Got a letter telling me I was caught in London not paying the appropriate fee for parking in a particular area at 7:31am last week.

The car reg and vehicle description match mine exactly

Trouble is, I don't live, don't work and never have been to London for about 5 years! Looks like someone has purchased an illegal plate for their car which coincidentally matches my plate!

I'll be in to report this to the local police in the morning - don't like the idea of someone driving around in a car like mine with my bloody plate on it! Especially if they're gonna use it as a bloody getaway car!

Apparently they've got photographic evidence which I'm going to enjoy seeing!

Anyone been through a similar situation ?!?

beemerboy

DazV, sorry to hear about that, but you have to laugh at the cheek of some of these people!!!!

no doubt you'll be able to sort this out.

seems like a good scam actually, and as you say, easy to do.

i followed a ford focus the other day, and as the sun was shining on the back plate, all i could see was these glittery stars.

after more thought, i realised what theat was about.....

should have took down the reg and shopped the b4stard..


good luck getting it sorted.

Dazza

Scoobydick

Seem to remember on here a year or two ago that Pete Croney of Scoobysport got framed this way. After getting a few witnesses to confirm he was not in the area at he time it got dropped IIRC.

RichiW

I remember that, it was a railway crossing though IIRC.

chockymonster

ask for the picture, the robbing b*st*rds will charge you for it though!

ProperCharlie

I had a penalty charge letter when the charge had in fact been paid. I kept writing explaining that the charge had been paid, with copy of receipt etc, they kept sending back a standard reply saying that the appeals tribunal would decide.

Eventually the the appeal happened and guess what - TFL didn't submit any evidence.

Bloody waste of time, the whole thing.

TopBanana

Makes you wonder how common this actually is? Before congestion charging you probably wouldn't have known about the fake plates

Witchfinder

Happens all the time. My old VW Polo got cloned (Polo FFS! If you're going to clone a car, at least clone a good car!)

Ended up with speeding tickets, bus lane tickets and parking fines galore, but beat them all. Westminster City Council were the worst - they made me appeal and then failed to contest the appeal. They're bullies who want to intimidate you into paying. I'm sure demanding money with menaces is a criminal offence...

ChrisB

Our local paper ran a thing about this.

Local guy who hadn't been to London for years got a fine in the post. His Transit was red, one pictured was white...

richs2891

This sort of thing is going to happen more and more, last two new cars I bought had incorrect number plates on from new. Spotted one at dealer (on the Scooby) and one when got pulled and police did a reg check on the car.
The reason automatically get a ticket from TFL is at the point of the ticket no checks are made at ths point wehter its the rights car, colour, correct owner etc. The data is simply sent to a ex goverment company in Manchester who merley print them and mail them.
Not in the least bit suprised keep getting incorrect charges could tell a few horror stories re TFL system
Richard

DazV

thanks all.

reported it to the police and now will contest it with the senders of the congestion fine

-DV

Pete Croney

I did get a NIP through for jumping a red light at a railway crossing and fortunately was able to prove where I was (200 miles away). If I had been working from home that day, I would not have been able to prove it wasn't me and would have got a serious nick and fine.

I'll bet there are hundreds if not thousands of people driving around London on false plates.

There was a story about a guy who was suffering just this, but was being taken to court and made to pay the fines, even though he could prove it wasn't him. The courts just weren't interested. He then went and found the car. From the location of all of the offenses, he tracked it down to Camden and drove around for weeks until he found the car. When he did, he rang the Police, who were not interested and didn't even bother following it up.

This was always going to happen.

Riftzone

aye. some toerag used my plate on a car the same make, model and colour as mine in manchester. did the odd speeding ticket and eventually a hit and run.

the hit and run wasnt a problem cos i'd already taken the speeding issue up with manchester police, so the local bobbys who came round to inspect my car were cool.

still, took months to sort out. eventually provided pics of my car to be compared against the numerous speeding photos they'd accumulated....

best of luck.

boxst

Hello

And now I understand why it's such a good idea to blank out your number plate when uploading / showing pictures of your car on the internet.

I hope you get it sorted out.

Steve.