CP Plus - again - and a cloned plate ... ?

HO87

Firstly, cloning is extremely rare and used inevitably as a very short term method of disguising a vehicle's identity - usually for use in violent crime. The very nature of cloning means that any attempt to legitimise the clone is destined to be discovered either during a police inspection (when a write-off is "returned" to the road) or by the DVLA when a duplicated number appears on the system. That said, motor homes are one of the target groups for vehicle thieves (as opposed to joyriders). If the OP acquired theirs privately particularly if they have yet to tax it then it might be advisable to get it inspected. V5C's, MoT's etc are easily forged.

Secondly, most ANPR/VNPR systems use infrared illumination and the stills obtained are often (especially in the cheaper systems) in monochrome. The fact that the stills in your case show black characters on a white background is probably a function of a cheap system rather than an indication of anything particularly untoward.

Thirdly, even the police do not expect a better than 93% read rate from their systems and you can bet your bottom dollar that CP +'s is not anywhere near that quality. In addition, even with the reasonably recent redesign of the VRN typeface characters are still capable of being misread - especially at distance and in poor lighting/weather or with dirty plates. B's, C's, D's, G's O's, 0's, 3's, 6's, 8's and 9's are all easily misread and may be exaggerated by the poor placing of a securing bolt with an inappropriately coloured cap (black on white, black on yellow etc or vice versa). Putting the statistics of the best systems out there in context very nearly 1 in 12 registrations will be misread.

Lastly, one should not ignore the possibility of straightforward human error at a dealership for example when fitting new, branded plates.

If the OP has experienced no issues with regard to previously taxing the vehicle etc and has received no previous enquiries with regard to the location/use of the vehicle then, were I in their shoes, I'd be tempted to put this down to a ANPR/VNPR misread and wouldn't be looking to incur any extra expense to resolve the situation. I can understand their concern but regardless of what security companies (eager to sell their product etc) may say cloning is very, very rare.

As for CP+ I'd refuse to pay them and state that you have evidence that both you and the vehicle were elsewhere, some considerable distance away at the time. Add that the vehicle pictured is not yours and bears no resemblance to it. They are the party making the allegations and unless they can stand them up you will be paying no heed to their demands.

At the end of the day are you really willing to bend over and let a private parking company, with absolutely no authority that makes a living off "farming" a car park in which they have no other interest nor investment, dictate to you? Stand your ground and stop worrying.