Car cloning nightmare leaves bewildered driver with mystery fines
Ham & High
28 July 2006
Katie Davies
GETTING a parking ticket when you're not in the country may seem like the work of an over-zealous local authority.
But for one Hampstead man it was how he found out his car had been cloned.
Nigel Walker, 49, of Courthope Road, was on a business trip to Malaysia when a parking fine arrived at his home.
The ticket came from Ealing Council and Mr Walker presumed it was a mistake.
But eight weeks after contesting it, he discovered the licence plate on his Volvo had been copied.
He said: "I got a notice to owner saying I had to pay £100 or else. I was in Malaysia and my wife can't drive so how could we be in Ealing?
"I had never heard anything like this happening before. I told the police, who said they would put out a call for it, but that means they are going to keep stopping me as I drive around London. They said if that happens all I have to do is go to the police station with my papers but basically I will be treated as guilty. It's like Kafka."
If the police do not catch the other car, Mr Walker, who runs the fetish shop Liberation in Camden Town, could face more parking tickets and congestion charge fines - and worse.
Other drivers who have had their cars cloned have been caught up in investigations into crashes or hit and runs.
He added: "I have read websites with horror stories like one person who got parking fines worth £6,000. It is very worrying to think someone is running around with my number plate and I don't know what anyone is doing to counter it.
"But why should I have to re-register my vehicle? Why should I have to lose my money?
"I could be getting a threat from the bailiffs for someone else's crime. I find it quite alarming.
"The authorities expect you to prove your innocence but it's very hard to prove you weren't somewhere and now it is going to come up time and time again for me."
Ealing Council said: "We are sorry to hear what has happened to Mr Walker. We had no hesitation in waiving the fee once he wrote to us explaining his registration number had been copied."
katie.davies@hamhigh.co.uk
Cloning or ringing is often used on stolen cars and involves copying a registration mark from another vehicle.
Often copycats will use registration numbers spotted on cars of the same colour and model to further avoid detection.
The AA found there were 14,176 confirmed thefts of number plates in 2005.
One in 250 vehicles entering the congestion charge zone is thought to have false number plates.
Cloning allows criminals to avoid detection on motoring offences, including speeding, parking tickets and congestion charge fines.
It has also been used in armed robberies and petrol thefts.
28 July 2006
Katie Davies
GETTING a parking ticket when you're not in the country may seem like the work of an over-zealous local authority.
But for one Hampstead man it was how he found out his car had been cloned.
Nigel Walker, 49, of Courthope Road, was on a business trip to Malaysia when a parking fine arrived at his home.
The ticket came from Ealing Council and Mr Walker presumed it was a mistake.
But eight weeks after contesting it, he discovered the licence plate on his Volvo had been copied.
He said: "I got a notice to owner saying I had to pay £100 or else. I was in Malaysia and my wife can't drive so how could we be in Ealing?
"I had never heard anything like this happening before. I told the police, who said they would put out a call for it, but that means they are going to keep stopping me as I drive around London. They said if that happens all I have to do is go to the police station with my papers but basically I will be treated as guilty. It's like Kafka."
If the police do not catch the other car, Mr Walker, who runs the fetish shop Liberation in Camden Town, could face more parking tickets and congestion charge fines - and worse.
Other drivers who have had their cars cloned have been caught up in investigations into crashes or hit and runs.
He added: "I have read websites with horror stories like one person who got parking fines worth £6,000. It is very worrying to think someone is running around with my number plate and I don't know what anyone is doing to counter it.
"But why should I have to re-register my vehicle? Why should I have to lose my money?
"I could be getting a threat from the bailiffs for someone else's crime. I find it quite alarming.
"The authorities expect you to prove your innocence but it's very hard to prove you weren't somewhere and now it is going to come up time and time again for me."
Ealing Council said: "We are sorry to hear what has happened to Mr Walker. We had no hesitation in waiving the fee once he wrote to us explaining his registration number had been copied."
katie.davies@hamhigh.co.uk
Cloning or ringing is often used on stolen cars and involves copying a registration mark from another vehicle.
Often copycats will use registration numbers spotted on cars of the same colour and model to further avoid detection.
The AA found there were 14,176 confirmed thefts of number plates in 2005.
One in 250 vehicles entering the congestion charge zone is thought to have false number plates.
Cloning allows criminals to avoid detection on motoring offences, including speeding, parking tickets and congestion charge fines.
It has also been used in armed robberies and petrol thefts.
posted by Neil Herron at 6:07 AM
1 Comments:
I beleave my car has been cloned i got a NIP form the police informing me they had caught my vehical speeding at 40mph in a 30mph zone by a gatso roadside camera but i knew i wasnt there at that date, time and place. i asked for proof they sent me photos of a vehical with my registration number it was the same make colour and model but with a few suttle diffrencies so i know its not my car, but i am now faced waiting to see if police are going to charge me or not, hopefully they will accept my storie.
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