Ninnybobs

Hi Everyone........ in shock at the moment.

Received a NIP through the post this morning.....41mph in a 30mph zone.

I thought 'fair cop' until I saw that it was for a camara near Burnley and I live in Middlesbrough

What makes it worse, is that the registration No. isn't for the scoob, it's a private plate I have on a 7.5 ton Horsebox, which definately wasn't even on the road at the time of the offence.

Looks like some cheeky ****** is driving around with my plate on his car.

What should I do?

Obviously, I will be speaking to Lancashire Police on Monday, anything else?

Cheers

Martin

andy97

iTrader: (1)

First option would be to write and ask for photos to help identify the driver( This will show the vehicle ). When the photos arrive then write saying this is not your vehicle and the matter will be dropped- you will problably have to supply photos and copy of of V5 doc. You then need to contact the dvla giving the details of the cloned vehicle so you have it on record.

Andy

harvey

iTrader: (48)

Simply write to them today, stating the facts and send recorded.

paulwrxboro

Martin this may sound silly but have you seen your hoursebox since this im just thinkin someone may have nicked it and drove it that way ?
good luck with it anyway

pslewis

It takes a lot of effort to get these things sorted .... I have a friend who received a parking ticket (supposedly) on their car in a Glasgow Car Park (they live on the South Coast and had been nowhere near Scotland in this car) - took an age to get it sorted out (someone had cloned their Scooby!!)

At first glance it would seem that someone has stolen a Horse-Box, copied your plate for it and sold it on!! The Owner/Driver is probably totally unaware about the plate not being theirs!

A good point above though ................ have you actually seen YOUR HorseBox lately????

Good luck!

Pete

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

Should be fairly easy to sort-out. Ask for pics to help you id the driver and then send the pics back which should clearly show it wasnt your car

hedgehog

The government say there are about 130,000 vehicles driving around on cloned plates so this is not uncommon.

The camera partnerships also, often, "enhance" their photographic evidence to "assist with identification" and I have heard people question this as it would be possible to "enhance" the photos incorrectly. They have, so far, managed to assert that this is legal and though many have their doubts it would be expensive to fight. Is there any chance there is someone out there with a box that differs from your number with say an 8 where you have a 5 for example?

In some of these cases the partnerships can drop the case quite quickly but in others they will fight you all the way. Remember they are basically a tax collection agency and so their only interest is in getting cash, as has been shown they are generally not to fussy who they get it from. So, you may find yourself with a lot of nasty letters and a fight on your hands. So, in terms of your ease of escape it could go either way and it is probably impossible to predict.

One thing that might be worth a look is there is an online database somewhere (RAC maybe) that lets you look up vehicle registrations and tells you when they were last taxed and what sort of vehicle it is. It might be interesting to try variations on your number through it to see if there is a box with a number that could look the same as yours if it were to be "enhanced." You would want to change R to 8 and 8 to 5 and things like that in your search.

Clearly you also need to request all the photographic evidence to see what you can determine from the photos, once you get that all might become clear to you. They are under no obligation to provide you with the photographic evidence until just before court but if you write pointing out that you, in law, must demonstrate due dilligence in establishing the identity of the driver and that you need the photographic evidence to do this before you can complete the NIP then some police forces will provide the pictures. Be very careful in any communication you have with them though, say as little as possible.

Good luck with this and be prepared for the possibility that they might fight it quite hard, I am aware of one case of a bloke who was at a wedding when a clone of his car was photographed at the other end of the country. In that case, and despite many people giving evidence as to his location on the day the court still convicted. With this in mind be sure you prepare a strong case should it look like they are for fighting.

Ninnybobs

Thanks for the comments/advice guys.

Will advise on developments on Monday

Cheers

Martin

andy97

iTrader: (1)

Be careful what you say if you phone the scammers, better to write and keep it simple. I used a one line letter to request photos


please could you supply photographs to help in identifying the driver of the alleged offence

Ninnybobs

Just to keep you guys updated......................

Spoke to Lancashire Constabulary this morning.

They have confirmed that my plate was being used on a car and have cross referenced my plate with my vehicle.

NIP has been cancelled and Traffic police alerted.

So if any of you guys are around the Rawtenstall area of Lancashire and see a car sporting the Number Plate C11APS.................run the tw@t off the road

Martin

thundertiger

call me stupid, but dont the number plate maker-uppers, have to produce documents/forms to dvla or suchlike, when making new plates???

just a shot in the dark, providing the plates were made "legitimately" of course.

dazza

OllyK

You as a law abiding citizen have to jump through these hoops, the criminal fraternity have no regard for such things and just get them made up abroad or in some dogy garage. It the same reason ID cards and such won't work either.

SPEN555

lol! You should not have put that. If you ever drive through Lancashire you might end up punted off the road

andy97

iTrader: (1)

The scammers must of known that when they called your details up from the dvla in the first place before they issued the nip.

It just makes you wonder if you had paid the fine if they would of accepted it without even querying that fact the vehicle caught was different from the dvla V5 information.

Andy

OllyK

I'm assuming those a rhetorical questions?

Angry

Funny they look like statements......

CrisPDuk

They won't have checked the vehicle make in the first instance, they will merely have posted the NIP to the address the plate is registered to.

OllyK

Indeed, questions do look like statements when the question mark has been omitted.

nsld

If you contest the matter and choose to go to court the prosecution will need to disclose to the defence (thats you) the evidence they have (pictures, statements etc) and also a list of unused material which may or may not be disclosable (you can argue for disclosure at pre trial if you have one).

This disclosure needs to be completed once you are charged and prior to the trial to allow you sufficient time to produce a defence statement and to prepare your defence.

If they delay disclosure you can apply for the charge to be thrown out or for abuse of process if they take forever to provide the information, you can also apply for an adjournment if the evidence is not presented to you in time to mount a suitable defence.

mart360

dont you believe it..

many years ago, i had my bike stolen from outside my house...

the little **** cut up an area traffic car, and went for it...

they checked the reg, and it came up as a tractor in wales!!!

they gave chase...

this bike was sold to me by a main dealer, who did all the paperwork ..

the reg was x 147 npx and the plate was x 174 npx yet the tax disk was correct


Mart

Benji Lad

My old man was having problems with a cloned car driving in the congestion charge zone - he kept getting letters through asking him for money from congestion charges. Eventually it got sorted and the reg number went to the traffic police - and it does work - he got pulled a month or two later by a traffic policeman 200 miles from home (Dad, not the policeman) saying that the number plate was recorded as duplicate. Sadly it was the actual car and not the duplicate, but impressive all the same (I thought).