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I suffered from this once. Black BMW 328 cabriolet, same private reg as mine. Seen driving through Crewe (where I worked at the time) and was asked "who was the blonde who was driving your car", in front of my partner...
A couple of weeks later, received a letter from DVLA requesting confirmation that I had been driving down the A34 in excess of 100mph, complete with a picture taken from a police car that had been behind "me", clearly showing the reg plate, model, date/time and speed. Odd that I didn't get a speeding ticket or summons, but a letter from DVLA.
An copy of an invoice from BlueBell BMW showing that my vehicle had been recovered from Kendal (where I lived) the day before the alleged speeding incident, and a confirmation letter that at the time of the incident it was in the workshop having the front right/hand wheel arch replaced and re-sprayed satisfied DVLA/Police that it was neither me nor my vehicle, and someone had been silly enough to clone a private plate.
Another scam is to steal the registration plate furthest from the house front door, from a vehicle parked in a drive way. The thieves then steal the 'other' plate, from a vehicle parked the other way round. The rationale is that when you walk to your car, most of us tend to just get in and not walk around the "front" and look at plates. The first we may be aware the plate is missing is when the Police pull the driver for a missing plate.
Yes, their "hot" car has two different plates, but how many people notice this? They then go on to fill up the tank, jerry cans, etc and drive away without paying.
Although I didn't suffer from this, I was involved in a minor rear-end collision in a traffic jam on the M3 in 2012 with a car full of, um, gentlemen of a dusky persuasion who spoke limited English, who offered me £50 not to report it, and then became agressive when I insisted on calling the Police. I was thinking it was a deliberate accident gone wrong. Passed reg number to Police, who were unable to initially track the vehicle on ANPR, as the plate I gave them was the front place. A pursuit vehicle finally caught them; the rear plate was different, and neither matched the vehicle. |
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