For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1874470
Back off the subject, I was in the Goole area one mid December on a sort of low cloud, cold, almost drizzling sort of day, and was followed down various country roads then pulled over to check identity as “sorry sir, no one from the south visits this place in mid December, we had to assume stolen car” .
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1874541
@Paultheparaglider Well I had a good reason which sort of embarrassed them.... "My aunt's (pronounced Ant's) funeral's at Scunny Crem tomorrow early". (Perfect miserable weather for it, too)
By Paultheparaglider
#1876849
In the news today, a driver received a fine courtesy of numberplate recognition software for driving in a bus lane in Bath. He hadn't been near the place.

It turns out it was a lady walking in the bus lane with KNITTER on her shirt. His number was KN19 TER.

Seems like Bath Council dropped a stitch there. It is plain to see this is a pearl of a mix up. What a bunch of nit wits. :wink:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -lane.html
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By nallen
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876863
Paultheparaglider wrote:In the news today, a driver received a fine courtesy of numberplate recognition software for driving in a bus lane in Bath. He hadn't been near the place.

It turns out it was a lady walking in the bus lane with KNITTER on her shirt. His number was KN19 TER.

Seems like Bath Council dropped a stitch there. It is plain to see this is a pearl of a mix up. What a bunch of nit wits. :wink:


Never mind the looming fabric puns, this has got to be a great game: pin a printout of a numberplate to a T-shirt and see how many cameras you can trip.
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By Paultheparaglider
#1876885
nallen wrote:
Never mind the looming fabric puns, this has got to be a great game: pin a printout of a numberplate to a T-shirt and see how many cameras you can trip.


We could have a special award for the anpr equivalent of base jumping. Bus lane. Airport. Supermarket. Emergency vehicle only spot.
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876940
Paul_Sengupta wrote:Does a speed camera count as a "structure"?

I know exactly where you are going with this... and I absolutely love the idea of getting an aeroplane "flashed" :lol:

Which always reminds me if this : 8)

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By eltonioni
#1902336
OK, so I took the advice from the FF Hive Mind, reported it, crossed fingers and heard nothing. In an idle moment I followed up to ask if they had any success picking up a very distinctive car with a very distinctive cloned number plate. This is what came back. :?

Thank you for your email.

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

When we first took your report we updated the Police National Computer with the fact you believed that your plates had been cloned. Unfortunately these reports stay on PNC for only six weeks.

The only way for the Police to retrieve your cloned plate would be to, excuse the cliché, have a Patrol in the right place at the right time.

Therefore at this time we have no way of knowing if the plate was recovered.
By Rjk983
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1902375
Paultheparaglider wrote:
nallen wrote:
Never mind the looming fabric puns, this has got to be a great game: pin a printout of a numberplate to a T-shirt and see how many cameras you can trip.


We could have a special award for the anpr equivalent of base jumping. Bus lane. Airport. Supermarket. Emergency vehicle only spot.


Does anybody know Sadiq Khan’s registration? I reckon a T-shirt would go down a Storm in the Greater London area right now.
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By eltonioni
#1918123
Right then, since my OP, the plot has thickened somewhat.
eltonioni wrote:Some thoughts and advice from the hive mind please.

I received a parking ticket from a private car park operator the other day with my (quite distinctive) registration on another car miles away in Dartford and photos to prove it. No mistaking a Porsche for a Ford Mustang so the parking company quickly cancelled the ticket. This happened once before, on the QE Dartford Bridge crossing but with a Mercedes, and presumably the same chancer. Anyway, so far so good.

But they also advised me to report it to the police so I "won't be held liable for other offences committed by the vehicle". I can see the attraction that I won't be held liable but I also don't fancy having my numberplate marked for every panda car with an ANPR camera, so doing nothing sounds like the best plan.

Whaddyathink?


After some digging it seems like the Ford Mustang is legit, but it has an almost identical registration except that mine has a zero and theirs has an O but they used dodgy plate spacing to make it look just like mine.

Since the OP I've had five Penalty Charge Notices for not paying to use the Dartford Crossing, all with a photo of the aforementioned 'stang. After spending hours arguing the toss about the first three I've started sending them £150 "handling charge" invoices which increase to £300 if not paid in 14 days - guess where that idea came from!

The trouble is, Dart Chart is a Kafkaesque government quango who reply with "use our form to make representations against PCNs". I have no intention of playing that game for their screwups so I think it will end up in front of a magistrate with either them or me suing the other. I've tried a nice letter and a nasty letter, phone calls and emails, but they keep spitting out new PCNs so I'm going to keep spitting out invoices for handling them.

Any ideas on how to end the madness?
By Supercat
#1918147
This is probably not exactly helpful, but:
Have you considered sending a solicitors letter regarding unpaid invoices, it's surprising how much 'action' you can get from an £80 letter.
Bigger outfits often have their own legal dept and they seem to like nothing better than leaping from their chair and finally looking busy for once.
It might make someone with a functioning mind look at your case?
By Paultheparaglider
#1918152
I would send them a formal communication telling them you have written to them on x, y, z etc occasions advising them they are repeatedly sending these claims to the wrong party. I would then tell them that the next time they do this you will claim £150 for the time taken to address this through the small claims court to compensate for your trouble, plus the cost of the court fee. I would tell them that you consider your previous letters evidence sufficient notice, and that you will issue your action without further notice to them.

If, or possibly when, they send you the next charge, I would follow through. At worst, it will cost you £30 in court costs, but you may well win. Either way, it will cost them time and hassle should they choose to defend your claim, and this might make them take more care in future.

If you win, rinse and repeat next time.