The dangers of cloned vehicles and how to avoid them
How to avoid your vehicle being cloned “Act Now”
Have you ever out of the blue received a fine or parking charge that you didn’t know about? There are many instances in which motorists have to pay an unsuspecting fine, and the reason is someone has cloned your vehicle or registration. You could also purchase a vehicle that you think is perfectly legal, and then later you are stopped by the police and find you have been driving a cloned vehicle.
So what is cloning?
Basically it involves a criminal finding an exact match of your vehicle and then copying its identity and this can even include driving your vehicle on a daily basis. If the criminal parks in a no-parking area they will not be concerned as the fine goes back to the proper owner of the vehicle “You”.
If you are receiving fines/charges that are not down to you then you should follow the points that are listed below and protect you and your vehicle from criminals.
- Return and fines/charges or paperwork back to the issuing authorities giving any documentary proof that you have received.
- Immediately write to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) at Swansea, SA99 1ZA or send them a fax, this will be recorded on the vehicle registration for any future reference.
Immediately contact the police, and they will endeavor to trace the culprit and prosecute to prevent this illegal activity from happening again.
What will happen next?
The DVLA will take careful consideration to issuing a new registration to you on request, if they are satisfied that your case is genuine of the vehicle being cloned and that there has been a recurring problem.
What is currently being done to stop the illegal activity of cloning?
The DVLA are diligently working on a wide-range of measures to address this problem.
Since 1 January 2003:
- all number plate suppliers in England and Wales must register with DVLA
- registered suppliers must keep a record of every sale and must obtain documentary evidence of the customer’s name and address and entitlement to the registration mark requested
This has certainly helped in some form of control over the supply of number-plates, however, there will have to be other preventable steps to make number plates more secure and prevent the criminals from easily cloning your vehicle in the future.
There are security measures that are currently being put into place such as electronic tagging of number plates, also there are levels of development in theft-resistant plates that will not be useable once removed from the vehicle and also under development are number plates that contain electronic information about the vehicle.
There are reportedly around 10,000 cloned cars driving up and down our roads
The police are using a security system called automated number plate recognition (ANPR)
There are many vehicles that conceal cameras in the back to read and film each car registration plate as that vehicle passes, and this in turn is run through the police computer to find the details of that particular vehicle, and this can be used to identify the driver’s address, whether that vehicle is registered or has been reported stolen or is a cloned vehicle.
If you receive any unfamiliar fines/charges you should immediately inform the police and stop you from being a victim of crime.