Mr Gee

Got home today after work to find a penalty charge notice amongst my post. Offence occured in December 2003 in South London.
I live in North London and I commute to work by train every day.
I never venture accross the pond . Period.
I can prove where I was that day (at work), but cannot prove where my car was.
This leads me to believe that my vehicle registration number is sitting on someone elses vehicle. Could be a Scooby, dont know yet, until I speak to the council concerened. As its over the 14 days, where you get a 50% reduction of the fine, the fine is now upto £100.

Its a $hitty and f&kced up situation to be in. I think I know how this will end up - I will get shafted !!

What do I do ? who do I speak to first ?

Mr Gee - (absolutely steaming)

ajm

There was a similar situation on a BMW board a while back which was only sorted out in the end by the fact that one car had a shark fin aerial attached, and the other did not.

Time to start getting witnesses as to your whereabouts, and look for conclusive proof in the photos (which you have a right to demand). f it is a purposeful clone then your cars will be almost identical so a decent photo and decent allibies are essential!

Mr Gee

AJM

I dont think thats going to be possible as its a parking fine of some sort. So, there will be no photographic evidence.

Mr Gee

what would scooby do

Don't pay it - keep firm with your version of events and they will drop it..

I had a similar situation about 5 years ago (parking offence was parking on a pavement in London - I live in Milton Keynes)

I couldn't prove it wasn't me, they couldn't prove it was - they have to drop it..

Even if it goes to court they tend to be sensible about it (most of the time)

Don't be a mug and pay it just to save hassle - that's what they rely on most of the time..



[Edited by what would scooby do - 1/16/2004 11:30:09 PM]

lmsbman

If you are 100% sure it wasn't your car, report it to your local police station. Don't get fobbed off by the desk clerk. A marker can be put on PNC against your registration requesting officers verify engine/chassis number. It will mean you might get stopped a lot (worth carrying your V5 with you) but hopefully it will also get the cloned car stopped. Until that car is found you will get all sorts of hassle.

ajm

Actually, from what I have seen, you should take some legal advise and attack it head on. It seems to be common practise for councils to just flog debts such as parking fines onto the local mob of debt collection agencies who will sooom come banging on your door. Ignoring it will only make it worse.

I am not totally sure, but I think it falls into the civil side of things as opposed to the criminal side (speeding etc.) which means no police involvement, but it also means a free for all when it comes to so called "debt collection". Perhaps some of the scoobynet legal beagles could advise you better on this!

scoobchrissy

iTrader: (1)

lmsbman perfect could'nt have said it better,

Lust4Life

The traffic wardens in Tonbridge take digital photos of the car when they issue a ticket, saw one do it the other day.

It might be worth asking as you never know?

Phil

Dazza01

This happened to my m8 some yrs ago in his Renault 5 turbo, he actually saw the car, same colour, go flying past him with his reg number on it, went to the police they sent an officer from the stolen vehicle unit or whatever it was called then, out to see him and went over his car and checked all numbers, when they were satisfied his was the genuine car they issued him with a security number known only to him and the police, so when he was stopped he had to tell the officers to check it and this would identify him as being the legal owner and not the scammer.
They never caught the real offenders thou so they probably ditched the car or swapped the plates again.

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

This needs to be asked.
Is it at all possible that somebody else my have used your car without your knowledge, a family member perhaps?

Mr Gee

Many thanks for your replies

Scunnered - My Vehicle is in a locked garage all the time. There is only one set of keys for it, which I carry with me all the time.

Lust4life - This is Lamberth Council were talking about here. Digital imaging is about 10 years down the road for them still. No offence to anyone who lives in Lamberth !

lmsbman - I will visit my local part time nic as soon as I have spoken to someone from Lamberth Council. I really need to know if they made a note of the vehicle the registration plate was on first. If its not a Scooby, then that may make things a bit easier for me. BTW, whats a PNC ?

What would scooby do - I am sticking to my guns with this one. Got an office full of people as witnesses to prove my whereabouts on that particular day, but cannot prove where my car was.

Will update all on Monday once I have spoken to Lamberth Council and the local plod.


Mr Gee

douglasb

PNC = Police National Computer

hedgehog

I read somewhere that there are an estimated 130,000 cars on cloned plates on the roads in the UK and I suppose with the cameras, congestion charge and the like there will soon be even more.

It isn't rare to speak with someone who has had a similar problem. A friend was done for speeding for a car they owned but that didn't have an engine in it, it was sitting in the back garden with the engine out, in a location he hadn't been to. He fought them but they didn't give up and harassed him for 6 months before finally packing it in. He had to get a solicitor etc. and so it cost him a lot of money for something that quite simply could not have happened.

For this reason alone, apart from the recently reported technical problems, it is important to request and examine all the evidence you can get in cases of automatic detection. It has also been suggested that it is worthwhile having some distinctive identifying features on your car to assist with identification. In saying that I would have thought not having an engine was a pretty positive feature in a speeding case. The law is an ***.

Gooner

As long as you write to the ticket issue agency, explaining that you and your car were not in that location on that day, providing the relevant evidence of course confirming where you were etc, they will not pursue you. Ensure you post anything registered mail!

Mr Gee

Lets see what happens tomorrow..............

Mr Gee

Spoke to Lamberth Council today. They inform me that the vehicle in question on the parking ticket belongs to a black Toyota Corolla. So, the traffic warden, either wrote the registration number down incorrectly, or the dude's cloned my number plate.
Have to send them a letter and my V5 for proof..
Will update as news comes in.

Gooner

All sounds good so far!

Dracoro

Don't they have to take the Tax disc number too? (if it's got one of course!) They could clone your reg, but your tax disc too would be improbable.

Mr Gee

Dracoro - I was thinking the same thing when I first received the penalty notice.......then I saw it was from Lamberth !