[Closed] Number plates stolen - what to do

Sell the car or convert to private reg. The likelihood is that you are going to be cursed with speeding and parking tickets for years if not.

I wonder if the DVLA will issue new plates in this situation?

Knowing the type of car might allude to the plates use op?

Old fiesta? Sorting/ insurance avoidance etc.

BMW,M4? Something a bit nastier perhaps.

Knowing the type of car

A rather battered and rather old Nissan Micra.

I’m expecting a few speeding fines through the post in the next few weeks.

Tell the DVLA immediately, do not rely on this to happen automatically.

I once sold a Cavalier SRi to an obvious scally. I had the V5 slip in the post whilst the ink was still wet. When the predictable letters started arriving for speeding tickets and worse I just sent them back going "sold, sorry." Didn't hear anything ever again after a few weeks. If I hadn't done that promptly I rather suspect it would have been a very different story.

We’ve phoned 111 and informed the police

Did they send an ambulance? 😉

Police informed now contact your insurance and DVLA.

Guy I knew had something like this years ago with a private plate (traded car in and garage sold it with old 'private' plates in boot) flagged up on PNC and he was stopped on a regular basis (his private plate on his new car)

This happened to me years ago, with my "personal" plate. Police actually came out as my neighbor witnessed it. They suggested that they'd probably use the plates for a job then ditch the car anyway. I didn't actually ever receive any speeding/parking or other fines etc so probably got away lightly.

(traded car in and garage sold it with old ‘private’ plates in boot)

That’s poor practice right there! Once the reg change had taken place, the dealer should have destroyed the old plates. We often get cars in with personalised plates, sometimes they get sold with them still on, usually that’s because the car is rejected or an ebid, much the same thing, but on newer cars the reg is changed to an appropriate one for the car’s age, and the old ones binned.

I had this happen, reported to police, it got flagged on their traffic systems and I was given a reference to give so they’d know I was the legit owner if stopped.

They’d used them to steal fuel around the corner, never had other problems with speeding fines and the like so I assume ditched straight after.

Happened to me mebbe four years ago - no fines, no points, no driveaways.

I would give your insurer a call and make sure they make notes of it. Last thing you want is them paying out on some crash for cash or other dodgy or not claim that jams your premium through the roof for the next decade.

Especially if the first they know of that claim is a call from the other party when "you" drove off without leaving details at the scene.

I would give your insurer a call and make sure they make notes of it. Last thing you want is them paying out on some crash for cash or other dodgy or not claim that jams your premium through the roof for the next decade.

Especially if the first they know of that claim is a call from the other party when “you” drove off without leaving details at the scene.

had something similar to this happen to me twice. First i knew of it on both occasions was massively inflated renewal premiums

Happened to wife's car a few years back. Reported it to the Police non-emergency line, ordered new plates of eBay (no evidence of V5 asked for) and forgot about it. No issues since. TBH, there's little difference in nicking plates versus ordering a set off eBay for a fiver and you'd never know if someone did that for your reg. I never really thought about informing DVLA or insurers but guess it'd be a good idea.

Happened to an old workmate of mine, they put the plates on a stolen car and it was used as a getaway car after a robbery

Had this years ago - Bought new plates from Halfords, but they made an error on them, so they re-did the plates. Halfords didn't properly dispose/destroy the old plates as I got a call from the coppers a few weeks later - I described the 'fault' on the plates and they were the ones.

This happened to me stolen off my smart forfour brabus years ago, a strange car to steal number plates off but there you go - reported to police never heard anything again.

scrap it and have the last laugh. or not.

My plates on an bmw estate were cloned and the culprit rear ended someone in Kent. Took ages to resolves as the third party understandably wanted to claim. It was quite hard proving my innocence tbh and had to get a police report for being a victim of fraud! In the end they sent an engineer out to inspect my car which obviously had no crash damage compared to the damaged cloned car. Even made my insurance go up until absolved. But it's the third party that bore the burden in the end.

^yep, a friend is having a hard time proving they were not speeding on the motorway, as the real driver was pictured in the same model of car as well as the cloned plates.

Bit confused about why you would steal the plates, rather than just ordering new ones with the same registration - easy enough to do with no proof of ownership, as above.

I guess if you want to "clone" them onto the same model of car, you can be sure they've come off the same model, but easier/less risk to just find the same model, note the registration, and order new plates, no?

Obviously ordering plates might be traceable with delivery, payment, etc. but not really hard to obfuscate?

Of course you save the cost of the plates, but they're hardly expensive.

^yep, a friend is having a hard time proving they were not speeding on the motorway, as the real driver was pictured in the same model of car as well as the cloned plates.

If they an Android phone (and I assume similar works on an iPhone) then they should be able to look at their location timeline on Google maps.
Will be able to prove that they (or at least their phone) wasn't in that place at that time.

Happened to me a few years back & local plod suggested I put a bright distinctive sticker in the corner of the front & rear windscreens to show it was a different car if caught by a speed camera.

Happened to me, too.

Told the police, didn't tell anyone else.

Police actually managed to find my plates a few days later, and returned them to me.

Happened to me a few years back & local plod suggested I put a bright distinctive sticker in the corner of the front & rear windscreens to show it was a different car if caught by a speed camera.

I'm remembering this for when I next get a ticket. 'Must have been a clone!'

They seem to have really tightened up on number plate manufacturers. Halfords have correctly asked for a V5 for a long time, but there used to be plenty of companies on eBay who would make without any documents. I recently had to buy a new front plate, as my old one cracked from a stone impact, and struggled to find any who would make one without me sending original V5 and I think passport. I didn’t want the hassle of sending those documents by post, so bought a ‘show plate’ instead. Only difference is there is no postcode on the plate.

They seem to have really tightened up on number plate manufacturers. Halfords have correctly asked for a V5 for a long time, but there used to be plenty of companies on eBay who would make without any documents. I recently had to buy a new front plate, as my old one cracked from a stone impact, and struggled to find any who would make one without me sending original V5 and I think passport. I didn’t want the hassle of sending those documents by post, so bought a ‘show plate’ instead. Only difference is there is no postcode on the plate.

I had the same issues 7 years ago when I changed my car and needed a number plate for the bike rack. It's had a 'show' plate on it ever since. I had a word with the mechanics at the garage my old workplace used and they said it was fine for a trailer/bike rack but if it was found on a car then it's the same as not having the correct font in terms of MOT pass/fail and fines. Never changed it either and when I did have to go through a Christmas checkpoint 2 years ago the DVSA officer did spot it. Thought I was in trouble but he said it was fine on the rack as it was the correct font and spacing. He did tell me that if it had been on the car I would have been walking home.

Loads of people round here have plates that are fake retro raised lettering and even fake German font/style. Police don't seem to care.