Someone has swapped the number plates on my car!!!!

[catweazle]

Managed to park opposite my window at work this morning, glanced out at my car and thought how weird, all this time I've had the number plate wrong. The second letter is F not L like I thought.

Got home and coincidentally there's a letter from the garage telling me my first service is due, and the second letter is L. Checked my registration docs and my insurance- definitely L.

So we go out to check, and front and back plates both say F. Name of the garage is on both.

Of course I don't know when they were changed because it isn't something you look at. It's got to be recent. Rang the police and reported it. They seem to think it's been targeted, and probably done on my drive. I am absolutely furious and also really worried about why this has happened and what the repercussions are likely to be. The car the plates belong to is a completely different car to mine- not even the same make, and a petrol where mine is diesel.

Has this happened to anyone else?

To clarify this, all the other letters and numbers are exactly the same.... not the actual reg but for example where mine is XL57 XYZ the replacement is XF57 XYZ

i caught some kids sticking tape onto my neighbour's flash sports car

Targeted for what?

How very odd!

Wierd! Never heard of this happening.

people do this in order to 'ring' cars and use your licence plate on a car used in crime. it's very tedious!

This happened to my neighbours too.

Not exactly this but dh used to have a scooter.
Local kids used to use it for parts - had his battery, light, other things nicked.

Then one day the number plate went. Dh was livid but couldn't be bothered to report it to the police but I insisted that he did. Sure enough within a week he got FIVE speeding tickets for his number plate (on another scooter obv).

Police eventually caught the kid who was a "runner" for a dealer. Nice.

Yours sounds a bit more "specialist", though.

I'd never notice. I don't even know what my reg is . Have awful problems in car parks where you have to put your number in.

Littlefish what happened?

squeaver this is what I'm worried about. At the very least it means I've got to waste my Saturday morning trailing back to the garage and stump up for more plates. At worst heaven alone knows

is it a flashy car?

someone could have nicked your plates, put them on a stolen car (same make same model), apply for replacement log book or fake on and sell on stolen car under your cars id

or put plates of your xcar on theirs and performed a crime, then if spotted by a npr (number plate recognition) camera it wont pick it up as your car is taxed and insured and so in the 'ok' list on the dataabase

We bought a new car this year. We drove home and by chance DH checked the car registration plate against the vehicle documents.

The two didn't match. Our useless garage had put the wrong plates on, then denied all responsibility and liability when we rang them to tell them.

Of course, an hour or so hanging around their showroom with our toddler soon chivvied them into action and a replacement plate!

Well you've reported it so there'll be no comeback on you. But yes a major hassle for you.

wow, in glad you knew your reg. i dont know mine although i had it 2 years now.
hope it will be sorted for you soon.

Just got back from the garage. They were mystified and said the plates that had been put on the car were their own, not made to look like them. They want to get to the bottom of it (and of course have access to the name and address of the registered keeper of the car the other plates fit).

They made me up some new ones, put them on and waved me off- no charge . Many thanks Dutton Forshaw!