Council rejects appeal for PCN of cloned car

Electro_Magnet

I bought a second-hand car from Autotrader in early August, I went to get it just outside of London. Less than a week later, I began receiving Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) from various London Councils for parking charges which I didn't commit - I live a good 80 miles away from London and don't ever go there. Offences included parking in bus stops, parking on double-yellow lines, etc. I immediately reported this to the Police, who explained that someone was using a clone of my vehicle. I have a Police incident reference number. Reviewing CCTV footage and photos supplied with the various PCNs reveals that the driver is someone who looks totally different to myself (different race), and that the cloned vehicle has a brake light which doesn't work (whereas all my brake lights are functioning - I checked when I bought the vehicle).

I have made representations (appeals) against all these PCNs quoting my Police reference and pointing out the differences that I am not the individual shown. I also have witnesses (family members) who can place me at home during the time of these parking contraventions. Basically, I have a pretty clear case it wasn't me. 

Today, I've received a response from one of the London councils (Redbridge) stating that they have rejected my representation. Their letter says that they will "reconsider my case if I sent photos of the front, back and sides of my vehicle" and also that "You now have the following options: Pay the fine, or, appeal to the Environment and Traffic Adjudicator". 

I have two questions - firstly, what exactly will sending them photos of my car prove? Their CCTV footage is fairly grainy, and the cloned car is the same make/model/colour as my own. 

I'm also confused by their letter - they claim they'll reconsider my case if I send these photos, but also that I must now either pay or appeal to the Adjudicator. Do I need to make an appeal AND send them the photos?

I honestly just can't believe they're pursuing this when I've already given them my crime reference and evidence of my correspondence with the Police!

I have 3 other PCNs pending which I still have yet to hear their response!

Any help / support / advice / reassurance please! Thanks. 

Umkomaas

As we major on private parking tickets here, PePiPoo will be your best bet for council tickets. Register there but please note that a hotmail address won't work - try using a throwaway gmail account instead if you do have trouble registering and post a new thread; here's your link:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?act=SF&s=&f=30

Have a read through some of the other threads there before you post your own to get the hang of what information they need from you in your opening post - but as a minimum you will need to post redacted photos/scans of all correspondence you've received from the council (both sides, if appropriate) as they need to see all the small print.

D_P_Dance

Take it to appeal, simple.  When you win pester them for compensation.  

Coupon-mad

Main thing to do in order to urgently flag your vehicle as cloned, and to stop automatic data release, is supply the Police Incident number to the DVLA and tell them that they have released your data to multiple authorities in error because the DVLA haven't bothered to carry out any human checks and just assumed there was reasonable cause to hand over your data.    But there wasn't, because your car has been cloned (other car frequents London and you don't).

So, insist on a flag on your data to prevent release of any more data for London incidents, or at all, without each case being manually checked snd photos supplied, and yourself being alerted to the request to allow you to declare where it wasn't your car.  State that if the DVLA release any more data you will report the DVLA to the ICO.

As for the PCNs you have, you MUST do what the authorities ask for, show photos of the brake light working and any other discrepancies, and I'd include a screengrab of your email to the DVLA and any reply from them to show your data is now being flagged due to cloning, as was accepted by the Police.

You may have to take some appeals to adjudication which is free and often by phone, to resolve them.

Don't get fed up and let ANY case slide, don't let ANY stage or letter go without reply, don't assume they will go away.  it's a pain for you but you must diligently kick each and every one into touch, because if you don't, Council tickets go to bailiffs.

Electro_Magnet

Thanks, I have made an appeal to the Environment and Traffic Adjudicator outlining all evidence that I wasn't involved, including discrepancies between my car and the car which committed the contravention. I can only hope they'll be sensible and reject the PCN. 

I will keep on top of everything and reply to every PCN I receive. Thanks for the advice!

Coupon-mad

Good!  The DVLA flag to block new ones is vital, for your peace of mind.

Electro_Magnet

I followed the advice of Coupon-mad. Over two months later, I've got a response from DVLA. The DVLA representative claims that "there is no evidence on our records to suggest there is another vehicle displaying the same registration number." Seems like a pretty bizarre statement to me, considering that I have two Police crime reference numbers, all the London councils eventually accepted that it was not my vehicle and that I was not the driver, there is CCTV evidence of another person exiting from the cloned vehicle, and the cloned vehicle has several visual differences which distinguish it from my own (and I have passed all this information onto the DVLA). 

Regarding setting a flag on my vehicle to avoid further PCNs, the DVLA representative claims that "we have no control with regards the issue of the penalty charge notices at DVLA and are therefore unable to stop them from being issued". Also seems quite unbelievable - where do councils and other authorities get data on who owns what vehicle, if not from the DVLA?

Fortunately I have not received any further PCNs from the cloned vehicle, and all PCNs I received were eventually dismissed. 

The DVLA are offering me a new registration number for my vehicle (at my own expense) but the Police said this is unnecessary when I spoke to them. As nothing more has come of it I'm not inclined to take any further action at the moment. 

Coupon-mad

Escalate the complaint to Robert Toft at the DVLA.  They certainly can flag a VRM as cloned and they must keep control and be the gatekeeper of the keeper data.  PCNs are not 'fully automatic' or does Robert Toft want to admit in writing that there are no human checks?!  Illegal, if so.  Ask him.

Tell your constituency MP to lean on the DVLA for you as well.  This MUST be handled better than that.

Have you registered with Keller Lenkner for compensation for alleged mishandling of your DVLA data?

Those solicitors might be interested in your specific evidence and would love to have you join the group action (no win no fee) with a case where the DVLA has said in writing that they are powerless to stop PCNs being issued and therefore make no checks at all and fail to act in the face of clear evidence of a cloned car, backed by images and Police Incident numbers.

See the DVLA Group Action thread.

Half_way

Is this a case of cloned plates on a different car, the same make/model/colour of car with the same plates, or an anpr missread?

If you have a genuine cloned vehcile you should make it look as different as possible - window stickers ( where it wont affect your vision) - ie in the old tax disc location and so on