Number plates

Sat 4 May 2019, 19:16

Hi Vicky,

It has been a problem nationally for some time, but especially since ANPR cameras have been used for enforcement of London Congestion Charge etc. Plate security is key.

Sat 4 May 2019, 07:24

I'd like to know if number plate theft is happening nationally at the same rate it's occurring around Charlbury. Is this area being targeted specifically!?

Fri 3 May 2019, 17:03

Charlbury Garage sorted me out after two pairs of plates were stolen from our (then) two cars.  Highly recommended.

Fri 3 May 2019, 16:45

Fran ,Here at Charlbury Garage we have got security screws that have been supplyed by TVP ,please ring if you need screws, F.O.C on 01608810898 or pop in during work hours thanks.

Fri 3 May 2019, 14:14

Talk of cloned number plates reminds me of a story about my father Colin who was the chemist in Charlbury and Woodstock for many years. Sometime after he had retired to Harrogate he was greeted one morning at the front door by a gang of earnest policemen and women who asked.. “is that your car sir” pointing to the silver Volvo outside. Dad, a retired magistrate in his 70s, then had to persuade the rozzers that it definitely had not been him on any of the several bank raids that had occurred in Yorkshire in previous weeks.

Fri 3 May 2019, 10:50

Simon, Yes I think you should definitely report it. They could, I suppose, be related to the growing crime of car cloning. Or it might turn out that the number plates were stolen as a kind of prank. 

I would certainly love it if they turned out to be mine as there is a need to keep the crime reference number for as long as one keeps the car. 

By the way, on the special high security number plate screws, TVP sent these to me (without my asking for them) in the post, but quite a long time after the number plates were fixed. Halford's sell them, but this is not much good if you need the car straight away as it's not legal to drive the car to Banbury (or wherever) without a number plate in the first place. 

Fri 3 May 2019, 10:35

In recent weeks I have seen a couple of sets of number plates in hedges near to where I have been walking our dog. I'd forgotten about it until seeing this post. Should they be reported?

Fri 3 May 2019, 08:33

When you report the crime to TVP you might also ask them where to get the special high security number plate screws they have promoted in past crime prevention initiatives.

Thu 2 May 2019, 19:37

Thanks for advice .Much appreciated.

Thu 2 May 2019, 09:10

Once the loss is reported to the police, Apcoa won't succeed in any prosecution for refusal to pay. 

But the theft of my own number-plates has certainly produced complications with ANPR systems. Sometimes I don't get charged at all; but then, as at Oxford Parkway station, I needed to repay all of my parking over the past couple of years (retrospectively over several months). 

It made me think about all the problems that were likely to occur at the Northern Irish border should ANPR systems be used to secure that border in case of a hard Brexit. 

Thu 2 May 2019, 09:02

Won't APCOA think you're still there if you left with no plates for ANPR to recognise?

Thu 2 May 2019, 08:52

Fran, Make sure you report it to the police & get a crime reference number. Not only is it illegal to drive without number plates, but you need the crime reference number in case the number plates are used in relation to a crime or for ANPR parking.

This has happened to me and to others in Charlbury in the past. It's more likely to have happened on the street, I think, given that there are indeed cameras at the station.

Charlbury Garage made the number plates for me & also fixed them very speedily. Happy to recommend them. 

Thu 2 May 2019, 08:36

Are there cameras on the station car park?

Thu 2 May 2019, 07:30

Number plates 

Someone has taken my number plates from my car either when parked yesterday at the station or over night .