To be pissed off at getting a bus lane fine when it isn't my car!

[CoconutSty]

City I've never been to in my life, opposite end of the country, at 4.30am. The photo shows a different colour car to mine but the reg is the same. Bloody fake number plate!! What are my chances at getting this squashed?? At 4.30am on the night in question my car was tucked up asleep on my drive way about 700 miles away, which of course I can't prove! 😡😡

You can prove it if the car is a different colour.
Do you have any receipts that prove you were in your home area?

I would have thought that the onus is on them to prove that it was your car. There’s enough car number plate cloning to put doubt into the mix, especially if it’s a different colour.

The fact that the car is a different colour to yours is surely enough evidence that it's a fake number plate?

How about asking at your local police station (if there’s one of course!). Otherwise ask neighbors if they have any cameras around their properties to show proof.
A long shot but you never know!

Of course you can prove it, it's a different colour!

DVLA know what colour your car is, you can take a photo of your car showing it's still the same colour it always was.

Contact Action Fraud and the police authority that sent the fine. When it happened to my husband I emailed asking if it was a scam. They will be able to check where you live and see that the registration is for a different car.

It shouldn't be a problem to get it sorted. Different area, different colour. Had you been out in the car in the hours before you sent to bed?

Is it the Met? A similar thing happened to me and I was nearly 200 miles from London. They contract out this kind of thing and the company giving out fines don't give a shit if it's correct so long as there's a car attached to the crime. Just write to them with photos of your car, registration and colour visible and your registration documents.

Log it with your local police. they can run your vehicle through their systems and confirm make, model and colour. then appeal the ticket giving them the police reference number...

You can do a vehicle check online and yours should match

no harm in trying

Don't panic. This happened to me - I got a ticket stating that my black Corsa (or something) had been speeding in the West Midlands... but the reg plate was definitely on the silver Smart car that was parked on my drive NOT in the West Midlands! I contacted the police via the email on the ticket and they dealt with it, with no trouble for me.

Respond on the basis that it doesn’t match your car, plus report to the police

They may flag the registration for their attention as it passes ANPR fitted traffic cars (which could of course mean that you get stopped yourself)
A dodgy numberplate usually gets accompanied by other offences as well, so the police would be interested in an easy pull

Do have a squint at the number plate in the photo as well - check if is it really cloned copy of yours, or possibly dodgy spacing from a similar ‘personalised’ plate?

Bus lanes are usually the council not the police. Take a photo of your car and log book and send to the relevant authority. They will certainly have encountered this situation before and cancel the ticket. Also contact the police to report the fraud.

It'll be a cloned plate or a registration that has been mistaken for yours because it's similar. Yes, they will rescind the notice. Just write a letter to explain that it can't possibly be your vehicle because yours is a different colour.

I've seen this happen several times and it's always been sorted so please don't panic!

We had this with a company vehicle. I reported the plate cloning to the police via an online form, and the confirmation email was enough for the fine to be appealed and cancelled.

I'm sure this will be cleared up very easily. However just in case anyone needs it I once used my Google maps tracking to show where I'd been. On the one hand I hate Google knowing everything I do, but on this occasion it was useful.

Happened to DH, they read the number plate wrong. He sent the council a snotty letter (it was a long time ago) about sending a notice to an Audi car when it was bleeding obvious the vehicle in the photo was a van.

You have to tell the DVLA - check their website about what to do if someone clones your number plate.

Find some pictures of your car pointing out the colour difference and any other different features.

Contest the charge online adding the pictures. You may need a crime reference number.

Watch out for more letters. The person who cloned mine went on a spree of offences - driving off without paying for petrol, bus lanes, parking etc.

I succeeded in challenging them but had to do each one individually

Definitely sort this out now. Goodness knows what the fake plate car is being used for - next illegal thing it does could be a lot worse!!!

Happened to me, I received letters for my car being driven in a No Vehicles area in London, I live 400 odd miles away in Scotland! Definite cloning. I just appealed each one and they cancelled the fines.

Not always a "cloned plate" as some are suggesting
Years ago ours was allegedly caught in a bus lane in central london - just a letter those days ad pay the fine or appeal

We were at work and the car was in the company car park which logs cars in and out - just wrote to them we were at work and car was in car park and if further evidence required, I will provide it - got letter back, not sure exact wording but it was NFA/ = no further action

Cams can get it wrong, as well as human error as well as cloning

What do you mean "rules can't be changed" ? I'm not sure there is a rule that says you have to pay, even though it wasn't you.

As PP said, have a look at your google maps. I was contacted by my insurance company about an accident I was supposed to have had about 100 miles away, when I was in a Pilates class. Apart from the class receipts I sent them my google map report for that day. Claim was refused. I never heard any more, so assume not fake plates but number noted down wrongly.