Plates Cloned :(

Haggisman

Haggisman

Haggisman

Soldato
Joined
6 Oct 2004
Posts
19,162
Location
Birmingham
So first of all ****** **** ********** ******! :mad::mad:

Right, now that's out of the way :p

Came home to a PCN this evening for a Pay & Display I've never been to when I was ~150 miles away at the time.

Pictures show a car with my reg, same make/model, but luckily, no spoiler on the back, whereas my car has one, so relatively easy to prove it wasn't me.

However, it does mean that my plates have been cloned, so I'm preparing to expect more prospective invoices :(

Spoke to the police who said they'd "log" it (so I guess I'll be pulled over every time I pass a police car now :rolleyes:).

Spoke to DVLA who said I need to write to them, so I expect that letter will get lost, and then processed in about 15 years :p

What are the chances of the DVLA issuing me with a new plate? I've seen various pages saying they "might" in some circumstances...

Failing that, what's the cheapest way to get a new reg. no.? I'm really not fussed about it being anything personal. I've seen sites selling them for as little as £25 + VAT, but is there a DVLA fee to actually assign that reg to the car as well?
 
It happened to me too on a brand new car. Bedford Borough Council finally saw sense and cancelled the PCN for a bus lane violation after a severely sarcastic letter when they rejected my original appeal.

Police should give you a crime reference number and then you write to the DVLA as you've already said. Chances are you'll only get the one problem as the crims usually ditch a plate for another one after one use or two uses to avoid getting pulled.

DVLA will issue a new reg but only if you get multiple and repeated problems.

Personally, I'd forget about it now and move on with your life.
 
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Was it a personalised reg?

£80 transfer fee, don't you have to buy a reg to transfer on to though? If it's via DVLA direct then the £250 minimum includes the £80 transfer fee anyway.
 
Havana_UK said:
Chances are you'll only get the one problem as the crims usually ditch a plate for another one after one use or two uses to avoid getting pulled.

DVLA will issue a new reg but only if you get multiple and repeated problems.

Personally, I'd forget about it now and move on with your life.
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Hmm, fingers crossed then, going to wait and see if I get any more "presents" in the post before forking out for a new one

mrk said:
Was it a personalised reg?

£80 transfer fee, don't you have to buy a reg to transfer on to though? If it's via DVLA direct then the £250 minimum includes the £80 transfer fee anyway.
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Nah, just a bog standard plate that doesn't spell anything, found a few sites that sell a basic reg inc transfer fee for £130-150, as I mentioned I'm going to wait a bit and see if I get anything more through before swapping it though; hopefully Havana_UK is right and it'll end up being just a 1-off.
 
snapdragon69 said:
Why would you fork out for a new one?
Just make a letter with the crime number on and blank address and date and fill it in when you get a PCN and send it as a reply.
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Whilst I'm sure that would work great for parking tickets... not so useful when getting pulled out of bed at 3am by armed police after "my car" was used in an armed robbery :p

(yeah very unlikely, I know :p)
 
snapdragon69 said:
Why would you fork out for a new one?
Just make a letter with the crime number on and blank address and date and fill it in when you get a PCN and send it as a reply.
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Since he's reported to the Police would his car not be flagged by any ANPR equipped car?

Could you be bothered wasting time getting pulled over and explaining the situation on each occurrence?
 
hyperseven said:
Since he's reported to the Police would his car not be flagged by any ANPR equipped car?

Could you be bothered wasting time getting pulled over and explaining the situation on each occurrence?
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The police won't do this for a one-off problem...it's simply not worth anyone's time. It would only go onto the database to be flagged by ANPR if it was involved in a crime or no MOT/tax/insurance.
 
hyperseven said:
Since he's reported to the Police would his car not be flagged by any ANPR equipped car?

Could you be bothered wasting time getting pulled over and explaining the situation on each occurrence?
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If they've done the right PNC form then it will be flagged. ANPR cars aren't the biggest issue though, it's the network of static ANPR cameras that each county have which will ping up and possibly lead to a deployment.
 
Havana_UK said:
The police won't do this for a one-off problem...it's simply not worth anyone's time. It would only go onto the database to be flagged by ANPR if it was involved in a crime or no MOT/tax/insurance.
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It's not that simple. Many plates are cloned so that other vehicles can be used in crime but it's down to individual force procedure.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
They could have got them from just driving around though.
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Yeah, absolutely.

But presuming that you have, say, a red 2008 Astra, you'll likely find it much easier to browse online for a red 2008 Astra with its plates photographed than to drive around trying to find one.
 
Jim99 said:
Yeah, absolutely.

But presuming that you have, say, a red 2008 Astra, you'll likely find it much easier to browse online for a red 2008 Astra with its plates photographed than to drive around trying to find one.
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Totally this.
 
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