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Need help urgently-victim of Number plate cloning! - Zak001

Hi all, Im new on this forum, urgent help/advice on a matter urgently will be highly appreciated.

Back story is this: My father works as a taxi driver in the west Yorkshire county in UK and beginning of this year was driving a blue skoda (number plate PK08 ***) This car has now been sold off in april 2018.

During the beginning of this year (January, February and march), we received numerous (8 in total) parking offences/Congestion charges/ speeding offences notices through the post with picture proof which were committed around the London district. The vehicle was the same (Blue Skoda Octavia) and number plate was same too so it was clearly a case of cloning/fraud.

My father has not visited London this year nor has this vehicle been taken out of the west Yorkshire county as it is used only for local taxi work.

These instances have also been reported to the police and a crime reference number has been given by the London police.

Luckily, as my father is a taxi driver and the vehicle was being used for work at the time of most of these offences, providing proof to the companies was not difficult and had been done straight away upon receiving the fines. Now 6 of the charges have been wavered by the council/parking companies after supplying proof apart from one private parking company called ‘lambeth parking’ who issued 2 PCNs to my fathers address and have not yet wavered the charges.

The PCNs issued by Lambeth parking were for offences committed on the 17/02/18 and 07/03/18 the total was £260 at the time. Despite emailing them explaining the situation and providing the proof and showing them the cancellations of other fines, they had got in touch with TEC (traffic Enforcement Centre) court and apparently issued warrants to Marstons Holding (High court enforcement officers) to seize our belongings. The total fine at this moment in time is £791.00.

So Today at 9.45am, loud knocks were heard at my fathers address and upon answering the door a gentlemen was stood saying he had 2 court warrants for My father for a total of £791.00. We explained the situation to the gentleman, and showed the proof etc etc to him and he eventually went away but asked us to get phone TEC (traffic Enforcement Centre) first thing Monday morning for them to cancel/put a hold on him returning to the address. I highly doubt they would do this on the spot as they will need to see the proof and this will most likely result on the man coming back.

My father is a 61 year old man and is not in the best of health and this whole situation has caused him great stress. Would really like advice on What steps to take next if Traffic enforcement Centre are reluctant on cancelling these charges on Monday? Is it best to pay the officer the amount then take the Lambeth parking company to court and sue them? Please help.

Thanks in advance

p.s is it really that easy to just clone a number plate and commit crimes/offences freely and not get into any sort of trouble??

Need help urgently-victim of Number plate cloning! - Bromptonaut

First things first. If the Traffic Enforcement Centre is involved you're dealing with a Local Authority not a private parking company. Sounds like this one is London Borough of Lambeth. Your father was fortunate that the Bailiffs gave him time.

What happened after your Father sent the proofs etc to Lambeth? Did he receive a 'Notice of Rejection' from them or subsequent notices to show the penalty was being increased or that it was registered with the TEC? It's understandable that, if he thought the matter was being dealt with he ignored those which may be less than helpful in his present position.

There is a process whereby he can apply to the TEC and make a sworn witness statement (sometimes called a Statutory Declaration) that he didn't receive Notice of Rejection etc.

This page from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal's website explains the basics.

www.trafficpenaltytribunal.gov.uk/witness-statemen.../

This fact sheet from National Debtline explains the 'end to end' process for parking tickets.

Note that the permitted grounds for are quite narrow. He is technically out of time but can apply for an extension. There is a court fee of £225 to pay on filing the application.

I'd suggest he obtains the forms for the Witness Statement and out of time application and let Marston's know he's doing this. He should also though speak to Lambeth Council and see if he can persuade them to withdraw the PCN although the formal time for doing so is long past.

I don't think 'pay then sue' is a realistic option.

If he needs help his local Citizens Advice would be a good place to go. He needs to take the relevant paper trail from the Notice to Owner on with him together with crime reference number.

Cloning a number plate is pretty straightforward. As it in effect creates a replica of a legitimate vehicle that's insured, taxed etc it won't flag up on (eg) ANPR police systems until it's reported.

Need help urgently-victim of Number plate cloning! - Bromptonaut

Forgot to add link for factsheet:

www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/PDFs/parkin...f

Need help urgently-victim of Number plate cloning! - Gibbo_Wirral

Despite emailing them explaining the situation and providing the proof and showing them the cancellations of other fines

Don't do this by email. do it by letter with special delivery.