Saturday Morning I received a letter from the Central Motorway Police Group ( http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/keeping-you-safe/behind-the-badge/motorways/ ) informing me that my vehicle XXX XXX has been witnessed being driven on the hard shoulder of the M6 Northbound junction 4A to 7 on the 06/11/14 at 01:54. This was only a warning letter and I presume this is why no photograph was enclosed, nor any details of the car except the registration.
Now I know this wasn't me for a number of reasons, one I was tucked up in bed with Mrs H, and also my car has been on SORN since the end of October. Another factor is this is 200 miles away from where I live (I would like to think that there would be some ANPR records available if I did make this journey).
So on a Saturday not a lot you can do, so I ran local plod to report that my car may have been cloned. I then emailed the CMPG informing them it was not me, my car is on SORN and attaching some photos of my car highlighting the differences to a standard model. I also fired off an email to the DVLA as advised by local plod enclosing the letter from the CMPG and photos etc, and backed it up with a letter in the post.
Anyway 08:30 this morning I receive a call from the CPMG advising that they have a photo and the registration is X XX XXX, identical to mine except for the spacing. Luckily though they were pleased to report that it was not me, and was in fact a foreign registered Renault truck. They advised that they have not seen the truck since, but will keep on record in case they commit another offence.
So as it turns out I haven't been cloned
but this has prompted me to remove my number plate from all photos (I will tidy them up, it was a rush job on Saturday). I know that personalised plates are supposedly less likely to be cloned, but once bitten and all that.
Now I know this wasn't me for a number of reasons, one I was tucked up in bed with Mrs H, and also my car has been on SORN since the end of October. Another factor is this is 200 miles away from where I live (I would like to think that there would be some ANPR records available if I did make this journey).
So on a Saturday not a lot you can do, so I ran local plod to report that my car may have been cloned. I then emailed the CMPG informing them it was not me, my car is on SORN and attaching some photos of my car highlighting the differences to a standard model. I also fired off an email to the DVLA as advised by local plod enclosing the letter from the CMPG and photos etc, and backed it up with a letter in the post.
Anyway 08:30 this morning I receive a call from the CPMG advising that they have a photo and the registration is X XX XXX, identical to mine except for the spacing. Luckily though they were pleased to report that it was not me, and was in fact a foreign registered Renault truck. They advised that they have not seen the truck since, but will keep on record in case they commit another offence.
So as it turns out I haven't been cloned
but this has prompted me to remove my number plate from all photos (I will tidy them up, it was a rush job on Saturday). I know that personalised plates are supposedly less likely to be cloned, but once bitten and all that.
oke:
