Number plate criminals - easy policing.

HERBIEMERCMAN

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hi everyone, i was on the m6 yesterday in my black rocket machine 500bhp supra doing 73 mph. i saw the new police range rover ( £40,000) worth and i passed it , they were in the slow lane at 60mph. they speeded up and tail gated me, later i realised this was to read my number plate.

i turned off at the next junction and yes you guessed it they followed me. i was trying to make an appointment at fullwood hospital so i did not want a road side discusssion, but as i approached fullwood they put their six blue lights on and i pulled over.

a young officer so polite said could i come and sit in their vehicle to discuss my number plates. i said can we meet somwhere later as i had to make my appointment. he said it will only, hopefully take a few minutes.

the officer at the wheel was in his 50's, he was also patronisingly polite. he pointed out that as from march this year a new numer plate law was now in force and my plates did not meet the specification, i did not have the company name and post code at the centre bottom of my plates and i did not have the BS au145a kite mark in the bottom right hand corner of my plates. i knew they were smelling for alchohol and quickly trying to judge my charachter.

i decided to be calm and polite, i explained that the car had been MOT'D three times, had been stolen and recovered based on the plates traceability etc.

they said they were just carrying out new orders from above, based on congestion charging avoidance in cities and terrorists using false plates.

i said i had an important meeting and they agreed to allow me to move on and change my plates, and thank god almighty they let me off with a warning for such a serious crime.

i don't know if it made any difference as i told them i had family at different levels in the police and CID, non of them in the traffic division. i have three cars taxed, insured, MOT, etc. unlike 25% of the motorists in our area.

WHAT ARE WE COMMING TO ? somone please tell me ? when i left the motorway there were cars in the fast lane passing me like i was stopped and i was doing 75 mph, the police obviously locked onto me and decided to hunt me down, simply because i have a fast car.

you have two guys paid circa £30K EACH, A £40k vehicle, all clothing supplied, no chance of redundancy, and they are sitting me in their vehicle to come down on my number plates. it's not real !

i also told them that terrorists and criminals will always obtain false plates, and so will the congestion charge dodgers, i also said i would wager that
80 % of them where not from these shores.

i started to feel that they were loosing the integrity of what was being said, and they were not happy with what they had done, just following orders, looking for easy pickings. i was late for my appointment and wound up. herbiemercman.
 

turbopete

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if the officers who you were sat in the car with had read up properly on the law they were trying to enforce, they would have known that the regs for BSAU 145a, were supersceded by BSAU 145d when the new style (51 onwards) plated came out. this was also when the regs stated that as well as the mark, the plates must show at least the name and postcode of the place that made the plates! although earlier plates should really still have the BSAU mark on them, if your supra was registered before the new style plates came out, there was no requirement for any marking other than BSAU 145a! if your car is on the older type plates like your merc will be, the police will then have to prove that the plates were made after the date of the new style plates to be able to do anything more than make you aware of the change in regs. and just how DO you tell how long a plate has been made for? it could have had protective covering on it for years or anything! personally i think they wanted to check you and the car out and that was just an excuse to pull you over! that or they were playing car snooker. common in cumbria police, im told by retired officers! as i worked in garages when the regs changed, i had to be fully conversant with the changes. more than the plods need to be obviously!
 

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All number plate rules have been put on hold, there were loopholes.

This happened in April,,and the new laws are not in force.

You can read this at any MOT station
 

The Hooded Claw

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common in cumbria police,

Aarrrggghhhh!!!!!! did someone mention Cumbria constabulary!!!!!

I have a "private" plate on my car (K30TH J) obviously arranged to "Look like" KEITH J was going to Barrow a few months ago (From Fleetwood) up the M6 to J36 & off to the A 590 got stopped by plod for "incorrect Number Plate", insisted I change it "IMMEDIATLY" I pointed out I did not have the V5 with me but would change the plates on my return home ......Plod gives me a ticket....carries on to Barrow.. on my way back gets stopped BY THE SAME OFFICER "incorrect Number Plate" I tries to explain " You stopped me 2 hours ago".... "That was then THIS is NOW"... gives me a ticket off I go again & stops off in Kendal just reaching J36 & gets stopped AGAIN ...SAME OFFICER!!!! " This is a joke says I" Gives me ANOTHER ticket & off I go


Complianed to Cumbria Police at carlisle THE TICKETS STAND!!!! THEN gets a letter from DVLA saying as I had been "Reported" 3 times I no longer had the right to use the number plate & it would be taken off me........( At this point I'm hangin off the ceiling with rage!!!!!) Gets the tickets out to see the Officers collar no & Lo & Behold his name is Keith Jones!!!!!!!

Writes again to Carlisle pointing out this....... all tickets cancalled & "Their sorry for any inconvience they may have caused.

i am 100% certain he wanted it taken off me so he could apply for it himself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just got it "On Retention" now Gave up with all the Arsing about it caused me !!!!
 

Alex M Grieve

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Equally worse

But the police are amateurs compared with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

I seem to have several on my case at any one time. They each send me correspondence. The contents are often mutually contradictory and they are out of sequence. Not only does the right hand not know what the left hand is doing, it does not seem to appreciate that there is a right hand!

Paid a bill in January. Letter from another department in February admitted they had not checked to see whether I had paid the January bill or not, but went on to say that payment was now overdue and that interest would be added to the outstanding amount!

Separately, correspondence with the National Insurance Department saw a series of letters arrive, each one oblivious to the fact that I had provided the information in response to the previous letter. From this, I deduced that their collective "in tray" at that point was about 6 weeks deep, so I discontinued correspondence until they finally caught up.

We know it costs money to send a letter - and they send lots, automatically, not only without thought but apparently without the ability to stop the letter if it is patently stupid to send it.

The experts at HMRC are in jobs for life, with index linked, final salary pensions.

You and I are paying for all of the above, and they call us their "customers".

Discuss!
 

alan782

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I have a very small plate on my zx6r Kawasaki (perfectly readable though). I have been past loads of police both on and off the motorway and as yet have never been stopped because of the plate. Once for speeding (no points as i was polite and made him smile:lol:) and even he said nothing about the plate. I think they must have been bored and guessed you wanted to be somewhere so stopped you for the hell of it:confused:
 

television

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Do not forget that as I said the rules are not in force
 

PeterCLK

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This is an abuse of his office and he should be disciplined.
If I were you I would take it further.
He obviously followed you - at least into Kendal - with this in mind.

Complain to the police authority if you get no joy from the Chief Constable.
 

kth286

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nothing at all on my plates except the reg number -recently passed MOT

Car registered 1995
 

The Hooded Claw

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My Son drives a Nissan Skyline GTR 33 V spec (just short of 500BHP at the wheels!!!!! it's his "Play Thing" He has an BMW M5 for "Daily Use") his number plates are no bigger than a packet of fags I asked him why he never been pulled according to his interpretation of the law "If a vehicle has been imported then it's allowed to carry a plate the same size as it would be in it's country of origin" Which does make sense to me I have a neighbour with a Ford Mustang with "Bumper Cut outs" for the plate he could not fit a Standard UK plate even if he wanted to !!!
 
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HERBIEMERCMAN

HERBIEMERCMAN

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as alex says the customs employees are another very privaleged bunch, good pay, good pensions etc. i think i have built up a fobia for my local councillors, members of parliament, traffic cops, bank managers etc. they all enjoy their privaleges because of the people in the middle and at the bottom, working and paying taxes. it's like they won life's lottery, just the way it is i suppose. herbiemercman.
 

jberks

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To balance this out a bit, there are, and have been for years, strict rules regarding plates. Layout, sizes,colours etc are all clearly laid out.
Ok, some of us have played around with the layout but we know its illegal and if a copper wants to get stroppy he has every right. With ANPR and Gastos its more critical now than ever.
Ok - it does sound like this particular offier of the law was dodgy and if they've cancelled the tickets I think its fair to say that he got into trouble for it, at least unnoficially as someone has to sign off the tickets so his bosses know.
 

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There new laws were first put out in the Autumn last year, this included things like BS markings and other wording on the plates, including certain flags etc. The spacing has always been strict and nothing new on this front.

These new laws were suspended earlier this year, and put on hold. When they are law again I will put a message up.

Dont forget the DVLA can confiscate a personal number with incorrect spacings. Retail outlets and motor factors will not make plates with illegal spacings, and these mainly come from over the net
 
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HERBIEMERCMAN

HERBIEMERCMAN

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at 2 pm yesterday i ordered new plates on the net, No1 Showplates.co.uk. they are based in gibralter.

i asked for the fully legal spec to BSAU145d. i asked for the GB logo badge for the left hand side and the fully legal letters and numbers in 3D. i also had a border. £28.80 incl. vat and postage, they arrived today at 2.30 pm. superb quality.impressed with the service.

malcolm is correct about the final draft of the new number plate law being introduced but i have it on good authority that MOT stations and number plate suppliers
( not scotland ) will be liable to a £5K fine for passing or producing plates which are not strictly to the BSAU145d. this standard covers the level of reflectivity, no dazle and good for photographing, supplier's name and post code, centre of plate, BS ref. on bottom RHS of plate. plate size, including imports and motorcycle mini plates, letter size and font style and colour.

all the private plate massarging will be stopped, currently we are in a state of some flux, so as some postings here state the police are looking away, but it will be short lived. number plate recognition and congestion charging, as well as the huge revenues from the speed cameras and police crime scanning rely on the integrity of the number plates, so big bucks are driving this.

the traffic cops should love it, another example of the few who play with there plates making life difficult for the majority, also another situation for the traffic cops to shoot fish in a barrell. the minority of criminals and terrorists will just laugh and buy plates from scotland, or just take plates from other vehicles. herbiemercman.
 
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Alex M Grieve

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the traffic cops should love it, another example of the few who play with there plates making life difficult for the majority, also another situation for the traffic cops to shoot fish in a barrell. the minority of criminals and terrorists will just laugh and buy plates from Scotland, or just take plates from other vehicles. herbiemercman.

Meanwhile safety related issues which are the subject of simple and uncomplicated laws, which are in force - for example using a hand held cell phone while driving - are being ignored.
 

turbopete

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Meanwhile safety related issues which are the subject of simple and uncomplicated laws, which are in force - for example using a hand held cell phone while driving - are being ignored.

mainly by women i have to say. in my experience anyways! (sorry ladies!) oh and plods on the hand held phone or police radio (hand operated on shoulder) whilst not wearing a seatbelt, exceeding speed limits in towns (and not on call outs) driving with defective vehicle lighting etc! i think that before they start persecuting other motorists, they should get their own house in order! :shock::shock::shock:
 

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