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I've nothing to add that will help solve the situation Headlight finds himself in, but will add the observation that it seems against all natural justice that he has to go to the sort of lengths he has done just to give himself a chance (and it's no more than that at this stage) of getting the fines overturned - people are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt in this country, why should it be different in cases like this?
Hope things get sorted out for you in the end .
I forgot to mention that during my last call to the Safety Camera Unit I mentioned that the picture they had sent me was of a car that was a slightly different colour to mine & that the number plate did not have the dealers name under it as mine does.
I asked if if I could email them pictures of my car to show what I meant.
This I did & have got up this morning to find an email waiting from them that says that they cannot accept the photographs as due to the data protection act my email address must contain my full name ?
I have 2 email addresses neither of which contains my full name as when I set them up my full name was already in use.
I now have to either borrow or buy a camera & get pictures printed out & post them in.
I included my full name, DOB & the fine reference number in the email so who do they think is emailing them other me ?
How many peoples email address contains their full name ?
More unnecessary awkwardness on their part to make things as difficult as possible as far as I am concerned.
This thread has certainly thrown up some interesting and worrying stuff. Too late for the OP I know but maybe the moral of the story is to make sure that you have some unique marker (e.g. an unusual decal) next to the number plate so as to minimise the risk should someone decide to clone your registration number?
I can't see it matters what registration plates you have. Anyone can do that, have 2 sets of number plates. It takes 2 minutes to change them. Or even a couple of stickers on the plate. That won't get the poor bloke off the 'charge'.
Well I have just returned home to find the photograph of the second offence waiting for me.
This time the picture is of the back of my car, same as before showing my registration number but the car pictured does not have a tow bar & mine was purchased with a tow bar fitted.
I have just contacted the dealer who is willing to confirm that my car was supplied with a tow bar fitted so I will be sending off a letter to the relevant Police force with a picture of the rear of my car showing the tow bar, no details filled in on the fine paperwork & a covering letter explaining that the car they have photographed is not mine.
Just had a horrible thought...
Check the serial number inside the engine compartment to make sure it's not YOUR car that is the clone.
TBH I am not opening a 3rd email account just because the safety camera unit are making things awkward.
Since my last post I have spoken to 101 who have involved the police.
I have been told to expect contact from the police within 24 hours.
I have been told by 101 to write to the safety camera unit again informing them that the police are now involved & to put the prosecution on hold whilst the police investigate.
They have given me a reference number to quote to the safety camera unit & have told me on no account to send back the notice of intended prosecution.
Looks like several more visits to the local post office to send off recorded delivery letters.
I am still expecting problems based on everything I have read online, such as being told that I could easily have removed the tow bar, that the cameras are not designed to pick out anything other than the digits/letters on the number plate etc.
At the end of the day though I have a number of different things, albeit individually small, that mount up to fair argument IMHO that the car being photographed is not mine.
The crunch will come if the safety camera units refuse to accept my reasons for the car not being mine & proceed with prosecuting me in court.
How much did the camera pick out in your case? If there was a distinctive decal just to one side of the reg plate would it have picked it out? Just asking, because your dilemma has prompted me to try the decal idea.
It is absurd that anyone would try to argue that you may have removed the tow bar before the alleged speeding took place and then put it back on afterwards! It's not exactly a 5 minute job and why would you do that?
What I meant is that the camera system is designed to get a clear picture of the number plate & not necessarily capture the driver as well, if the picture is of the front of the car.
The first picture shows the whole of the front of my car but you cannot see anyone sat in the front of the car driving even though you can clearly see the steering wheel.
It is as if the car is totally driverless.
The other picture shows the whole of the back of my car.
In both cases the registration on the number plate is crystal clear but there is no sign in either picture of the dealers details which were printed across the plate under the numbers & letters.
I would have thought that as the pictures are so clear everything on the plate would show up, dealers details, side badge etc but I don"t know ?
Interesting developments.Keep fighting this.
What is "pepipoo" ?
BTW I have been looking at my online banking this morning & I have a debit card transaction for the day of the offence from a cafe in St Davids.
Again not a cast iron alibi on it"s own but evidence that on the day of the alleged first speeding offence I had lunch 130 miles away from where the supposed offence occurred.