The BBC reports that more than 40,000 number plates were stolen in 2006 and the Police are calling for a number plate revamp because of the rising problem. Read the report here
Why has it suddenly become 'profitable' to steal number plates?
Quite simple really ... £120 parking fines and speed cameras costing people's jobs ... 4 x 34mph results in loss of job, loss of home, break up of family. Compare that to the consequences of being caught with a cloned car.
So, it is not just 'criminals' who are now taking the risk. More and more people are being driven to such extreme measures because of the escalation in motoring penalties for an ever growing number of offences and contraventions.
A cloned car gets free parking and never needs to pay a speeding fine. It never gets done for entering a bus lane or a yellow box junction. However, the owner of the cloned vehicle is thrown into a nightmare scenario of having to prove that they were elsewhere when a photograph of 'their' vehicle was captured.
Compare the chances of being stopped by a traffic policeman with being ticketed remotely and you will see why the amount of cloned vehicles is escalating to astronomical numbers.
As a consequence of this an increasing number of unsuspecting motorists will be receiving parking and speeding fines through the post that they knew nothing about and for which they will have to expend a great deal of time and cost having to deal with, causing a great deal of stress and inconvenience. Experience has shown in relation to parking that councils often ignore such representations but in reality they must now be forced to provide more evidence and not be so cavalier in their approach to cloning representations.
Watch this space as this problem grows.
The DVLA are aware that the current registration system is massively flawed and no longer fit for purpose and that the plates should be for the owner and not the vehicle. Every time a car is purchased the plates are transferred from the owner's vehicle to the newly acquired one and this can be done at a local office without having to deal with Swansea. The big problem is the political one which is to accept that the thousands of jobs in Swansea dependent on the DVLA may no longer be necessary.
However, there is one simple solution ... more Police in patrol cars watching for 'dangerous' drivers who can then be stopped, details and identities checked and confirmed both of the individual and the vehicle. A speed camera has never caught a criminal with a cloned car and never stopped someone doing 70mph in a 30mph and pulled them over to prevent them driving in such a fashion, asnd someone with such a flagrant disregard for the law may well be engaged in other forms of criminal activity.
"Can we check the boot of your car Sir?"
1 comment:
it's getting silly now. it's so easy to pick up automatic points that people are becoming resigned to getting them. I just hope they layer more of it on because it will bring about more disobedience and a situation beyond administration.
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