Car plates cloned - PCNs received

DJ_Mike

My wife's car has had its VRN cloned onto another vehicle, and she has received 4 separate PCNs (including one from TfL for Blackwall tunnel), all within a few hours of each other on the same day, 1st April. The photos quite clearly show the car isn't hers because they are of a light silver/grey car, whereas hers is a dark charcoal grey (same manufacturer though). There are other differences in appearance too.

We've so far made representations to all companies/TfL that we believe the car is using fake plates and given photos of her car as evidence. We've also spoken to DVLA who asked us to write to their Vehicles team, which we have as of a couple of days ago.

My question centres on the correct route to obtain a crime reference number. We spoke to Cambridgeshire police since that's where we're based but they wouldn't record a crime as they consider cloning to be "identity theft" and not a recordable crime. Is this right? The PCNs we have are from London and Kent so should we report to Met/Kent police instead? Perhaps as vehicle offences?

Half_way

Could this be ANPR read errors, have you tried the dvla vehicle check site with similar registration plates, such as swapping out a W for an M, a B for and R or a P?

DJ_Mike

Very unlikely - there are 7 different photos across these PCNs, and although a couple are quite grainy it is the same (wrong) car in all of them, and with clearly the same VRN as my wife's car.

Castle

Report it to the London & Kent Police.

Half_way

is this the same model of car, or different.

ie one is a ford fiesta, the other a ford transit?

DJ_Mike

Seems to be Vauxhall Astra in both cases. Possibly the clone car in the PCN is a Corsa. There is no model name visible on the PCN photos of the back of the car, which itself is interesting because my wife's car says Astra on the back. But that may be down to photo clarity. They are similar in many respects.

The colour of the car is the most striking difference.

I can also see in the PCN photos, the rear number plate is in a fully recessed area (barely bigger than the plate). Her car has no such recess - there is a lip across the back of the car above the plate but no enclosed recess.

TfL's photos are the worst of the bunch we've had (even making the colour of the car harder to determine) so I'm concerned they will be trickier to dispute. The number plate recess is a clearer difference there.

The other PCNs are from ECP and TPS and show the light silver colour of the clone car more clearly, and also the front grill is very different. So besides the hassle of having to dispute it I would hope between their photos and ours there is enough noticeable difference.

Going to contact Met and Kent police and see where that gets us.

Nellymoser

You can report it online. Google Met Police report a crime, do same for Kent Police.