CC fine but was never in London - honest!

[HowardD]

My girlfriend started leasing a 308 from Peugeot early in Dec last year.

This weekend, she received a fine (forwarded by Peugeot!) for travelling into the CC zone 24 Dec - with B&W photos of the number plate. The fine is £120, but discounted to £60 if you pay in 2 weeks.

But, her car was never there; it's never left Bracknell and because it was Christmas Eve, we remember what we were doing and when.

My girlfriend gets stressed about stuff like this, particularly as Peugeot added a £40 admin charge. We wrote a letter.

This morning, when she rang TFL, the advisor looks at the photos online (we can't); told her that the car in the photo was a BMW 5-series and that she has to report this to the police and write to TFL, Peugeot and DVLA with the crime reference, for the penalty to be disregarded.

TFL know what make and model of car that number plate was assigned to - it's even printed on the penalty notice.

Yet, a penalty notice was issued, and she has to prove that her car is not a BMW. She'll do it, but it seems unreasonable to expect her to prove she's done nothing wrong. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

HD

 

[renault12ts]

So they got it wrong and she has to do the running around to clear it? What was the registration mark in the photo they sent her? I'm assuming it was hers but on the wrong car.

 

[Colin_b]

Couple of years ago we received a CC penalty, even though the car was 350 miles away, parked at work at the time. Cost more than the penalty in time postage phone calls and buggering around before it was cancelled. It was a cloned plate on a similar make, model and colour car, though not exactly the same.

Oddly only happened, once, I was expecting more.

 

[st13phil]

She really must report this to the Police and the DVLA (and Peugeot who presumably own the car) or she's likely to get lots more hassle as there's someone running around with the same registration as on her car.

As for TfL, I can sort of see their point, but only if I squint quite hard. A reasonable organisation would check the DVLA record which says "Peugeot 308", see the photograph which is clearly a BMW 5-Series by their own admission, issue an apology and cease further action. However, it seems they are not that reasonable.

 

[mattc]

Is it worth bothering your MP and asking them to write to TFL telling them to sort things out at their end? Putting the onus on the individual to prove their innocence is plain wrong. it should be for authorities to prove guilt. or was your MP one that voted to give TFL the powers to demand this in the first place

 

[moonloops]

I expect the TFL ticket issuing system is prety much automated with no human* intervention. They churn them out and hope everyone pays up without checking.


*or whatever human substitutes they use in this type of organisation

 

[HowardD]

So they got it wrong and she has to do the running around to clear it? What was the registration mark in the photo they sent her? I'm assuming it was hers but on the wrong car.

Eaxctly that. It's her number plate, in a subtly different font, on a completely different make and model, with differently placed fixing screws, and no dealer name on the bottom.

 

[219]

See , if she'd been in a nice W123 she would have had none of this bother !

 

[HowardD]

She really must report this to the Police and the DVLA (and Peugeot who presumably own the car) or she's likely to get lots more hassle as there's someone running around with the same registration as on her car.

As for TfL, I can sort of see their point, but only if I squint quite hard. A reasonable organisation would check the DVLA record which says "Peugeot 308", see the photograph which is clearly a BMW 5-Series by their own admission, issue an apology and cease further action. However, it seems they are not that reasonable.

My thoughts exactly. When she rang TFL, it was clear that this happens all the time. The fella she spoke to had a process and a script and everything.

The penalty letter has the make and model of her 308; presumably from DVLA database, and TFL have photos of an entirely different car.

Even if TFL don't give a monkey's about their customers it would still save them time and money to check both car and DVLA record with a simple visual match. They then wouldnt have to deal with appeals from drivers who dispute they were ever in the zone.

She rang the DVLA this afternoon - they told her that she can have a new registration number issued for the car if it happens again.

HD

 

[HowardD]

I expect the TFL ticket issuing system is prety much automated with no human* intervention. They churn them out and hope everyone pays up without checking.


*or whatever human substitutes they use in this type of organisation

I am 100% confident that this is exactly the situation.

Thing is, we sat at home like idiots trying to work out which of us had taken her car to London. Even though we knew exactly where we'd been and what we'd done - we started to doubt ourselves (and each other..)

HD

 

[moonloops]

I am 100% confident that this is exactly the situation.

Thing is, we sat at home like idiots trying to work out which of us had taken her car to London. Even though we knew exactly where we'd been and what we'd done - we started to doubt ourselves (and each other..)

HD

I had something similar years ago, got a parking ticket for a car I had sold. I had to prove to them that I had sold it. I told them to come round and look in my garage if they didn't believe me

We then got into an interesting argument over registered keeper versus legal owner (person who I sold the car in didn't fill in the registration forms)

PITA

 

[HowardD]

This one is fixed.

Thanks to kind advice given to me by a forum member, the TFL enforcement unit agreed to terminate the penalty, and they've confirmed this in writing to Peugeot and my girlfriend.

Although, when she reported the issue to the Police, she was told not to be surprised if she was occasionally stopped by Police when she was driving.

Fingers crossed it's gone away. HD

 

[renault12ts]

Result.

 

[st13phil]

She rang the DVLA this afternoon - they told her that she can have a new registration number issued for the car if it happens again.

And people are surprised at the poor quality of DVLA's data? They know that there's a cloned plate running around yet they won't automatically issue a new registration number to the legitimate vehicle and void the old one? It beggars belief

Although, when she reported the issue to the Police, she was told not to be surprised if she was occasionally stopped by Police when she was driving.

Fingers crossed it's gone away. HD

While this particular incident may have gone away, my crystal ball predicts that this won't be the last unless and until she gets issued with a new registration

 

[Colin_b]

my crystal ball predicts that this won't be the last unless and until she gets issued with a new registration

The cloners aren't always stupid, they know after a couple of times it gets reported and goes on the suspect plate database. So they move onto another set.

Hopefully your crystal ball is too pessimistic...

 

[HowardD]

Is it worth bothering your MP and asking them to write to TFL telling them to sort things out at their end? Putting the onus on the individual to prove their innocence is plain wrong. it should be for authorities to prove guilt. or was your MP one that voted to give TFL the powers to demand this in the first place

My MP is Andrew MacKay, he's a bit busy at the moment resigning over his second home expenses claim.

 

[st13phil]

The cloners aren't always stupid, they know after a couple of times it gets reported and goes on the suspect plate database. So they move onto another set.

Hopefully your crystal ball is too pessimistic...

Maybe it is, but I suspect that this particular lot of cloners are a bit dim as they've put a plate on an obviously different car. Also, how would the cloner's know that the number had been pinged

 

[BTB 500]

Eaxctly that. It's her number plate, in a subtly different font, on a completely different make and model, with differently placed fixing screws, and no dealer name on the bottom.

AKA a 'show plate', a good demonstration of why they are illegal for road use (no checks carried on ownership of vehicle/plate when you order).

 

[JumboBeef]

Eaxctly that. It's her number plate, in a subtly different font, on a completely different make and model, with differently placed fixing screws, and no dealer name on the bottom.

How can you tell if it has/doesn't have a dealer name on the bottom, from a photo?

The plates I have on the W124 are totally legal, made up at Halfurds.......but you wouldn't see a name on them in a photo. They have put an 'impression' of their name, plus post code on there. You have to look VERY closely to see it, and there is no way you would see it in a photo.

 

[HowardD]

How can you tell if it has/doesn't have a dealer name on the bottom, from a photo?

The plates I have on the W124 are totally legal, made up at Halfurds.......but you wouldn't see a name on them in a photo. They have put an 'impression' of their name, plus post code on there. You have to look VERY closely to see it, and there is no way you would see it in a photo.

I dont know for sure, but I couldnt see anything below the registration number in the PCN photo.

But on my GF's car, in a photo, we can see the dealer's name nice and clear.

Thankfully, it never came to that. The car photographed in the CC zone was a 5-series BMW!