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GTV Stolen Number Plates - Update

3K views 32 replies 12 participants last post by  anglospider 
#1 ·
Hi guys,

A good while ago I posted a thread under a different username (knoppy1987) before we had a few problems with usernames etc. regarding a case of somebody using my number plates on a car in Hoddesdon, Herts. The car caught was Vela Blue (mine is Proteo Red), had no Aerokit (mine does) and it was caught on the same road (a very small road) I purchased my car from.

What has ensued has been a colossal rigmarole with the DVLA, Police and Action Fraud the latter two doing absolutely nothing and the former making getting my GTV V6 on the road a nightmare having to rigorously prove that my car was not the car caught with my number plates on. Here we are again in November, another month in waiting for car tax and again I will have to put together a requested list of information to prove that my car, is my car to the DVLA.

What is most hurtful and what has caused me a lot of stress, is the effort I have put into this car to get it back to where it should be having been sold it somewhat deceitfully (some serious issues I was ill-informed about). I do not regret buying it as it presented me with an opportunity to learn about cars, get my teeth stuck in and I feel more satisfied now, that with some effort, I have saved a car by putting endless amounts of money and time into it. The car has been rebuilt by myself and with some help with parts from Autolusso (Oil Cooler Kit), Alfashop (Philip), a timing belt/WP/Tensioner etc. change by Autostilo (Massimo), welding done by another independent and a partial respray done by a former Rolls-Royce coachworks worker in Yiewsley. I want to mention those entities because there remains more good people out there.

I just wanted to bring to light the issues to prevent any of you honest members (like myself) who love the Alfa Romeo car brand, to be weary with this certain individual when purchasing components or even cars from them (like myself). The person in question used to work out of a garage on weekends in a Hoddesdon industrial estate and he also trades under the name 8shadesofwhite on eBay – he currently has a red GTV dash for sale on there. At the time of knowing him, I bought a car (the Proteo Red GTV), a few things off him and he even helped me get a car through an MOT with some work on my brakes so he did have some good in him. However, I feel that his reputation deserves some tarnishing for the headache he has caused for me just to be able to drive my GTV on the road without hassle.

The biggest problem here is not being able to drive my car – I love the thing, it is brilliant and the best thing I have owned and something I do not even want to contemplate selling ever. The value of it is not important to me rather just the sheer excitement it presents when I drive it. Sitting dormant in a garage, covered up and being started every few days is just not what I envisaged for this wonderful car.
 
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#7 ·
Hi Pud - to my knowledge the car was left parked in the area with my plates on, spotted on a patrol, it was taken away and crushed (assumed to be as I never collected it, and he could not pass as me I would suspect) as I was summoned to pay a fine. I obviously called the DVLA at this point who ran me through events - they had pictures on file which is how they established that my car was not the car they had impounded. My car was sitting pretty in a garage sorn for the winter whilst I had sills welded amongst a few other things.

Friend of mine had his car number plate cloned and he had huge issues exactly as above, DVLA and Police were unhelpful and suggested a Private Plate, This is not the answer of course and instead of getting resources into stopping this kind of activity it seems they are washing there hands of it and just sayin there is very little they can do
Absolutely what has happened to me - the Police were utterly useless as they just fobbed me off to Action Fraud who like the police, are some half-arsed powerless organisation who simply do not have the resource to tackle this sort of crime. My post today was brought about because I am having to send in pictures of my cars dataplate on the offside front wing. I've also had to order a cheque book in order to pay for car tax. A cheque book - yes - a cheque book. You can pay by postal order at an additional cost.

It is an utter disgrace of a system but the precursor to all of it is the school teacher who put my plates on another GTV.
 
#6 ·
Friend of mine had his car number plate cloned and he had huge issues exactly as above, DVLA and Police were unhelpful and suggested a Private Plate, This is not the answer of course and instead of getting resources into stopping this kind of activity it seems they are washing there hands of it and just sayin there is very little they can do
 
#8 ·
A bit off topic, but in the same useless genre, a friend of mine in his 50s is according to HMRC two people, he's on the electoral roll twice, has to national insurance numbers and has been trying for the last 7 years been trying to prove he is only one person to them. You can imagine the trouble he is having with his tax issues. Now that's an identity crises!

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
#11 ·
A friend of mine has the registration number PEN1 - (yes, I know) which has been in her family's ownership for many years, in fact since originally issued. Its currently on a Honda Jazz (and doubtless worth a lot more than the car), but for a year or more she kept getting parking tickets and other traffic violation notices for offences committed by a Mercedes in London bearing the same number - and as the OP says, the Police didn't seem interested. At least DVLA agreed that the plates were appropriate to a Honda and not a Merc....
 
#16 ·
*Update*

Still no car tax. I had to send in photographs of the car from all angles. Endless documentation. Pictures of the dataplate with Chassis Numbers and Engine Numbers matching to historical documentation. No dice.

The DVLA are going to be inspecting the car with no fixed date. I do not think I have ever been so infuriated and to think that this plonker is getting away free of charge here.

The way I am feeling at the moment, I am going to out this person by name. The consequences for which, I am past caring.

On the plus side to to gain back some solace, I am going to be buying another Alfa to get me by. No idea what yet. I've had most of them so I can go in with the knowledge. Probably a 147 2.0 TS or a TS GTV. I miss those both the most.
 
#17 ·
Shocking, they should know what the GTV they crushed was based on its VIN which is on the tag as well as on the strut top. Just because it had your plates on, doesn't mean it has anything to do with the GTV you own. Ridiculous really.

If you're considering a 156, I've got a decent one I'm selling. Black facelift saloon, 55 plate, black leather interior, 120-odd on the clock, 1.9 16v diesel engine with 6-speed gearbox. Cambelt/tensioner/waterpump done a few months ago with genuine Alfa parts. MOT'd etc. Would take £1300 for it.
 
#20 ·
The trouble with all this automation is that everybody believes it, and it becomes a matter of proving you're not guilty. We had a struggle with a service station a few miles away insisting my wife had driven off without paying for fuel. "We have the car and reg on CCTV. We have reported you to the police for theft, pay immediately or be prosecuted" they said.

The trouble was that it was b/s. Neither she nor anyone could get 70L of diesel into her petrol Peugeot 107 with a 35L petrol tank, that the reg belongs to.

While we were trying to disentangle this nonsense, she was stopped by police on the way to work, as her Peugeot was flagged for not paying for 70L diesel. Cue roadside interrogation.

Eventually the garage got round to reviewing it's CCTV and the car with her reg no identified as a black Nissan SUV. Even then they really didn't want to accept that it wasn't her small blue Peugeot playing some Paul Daniels trick. Eventually we got a grumpy letter from the police saying 'no further action' would be taken. Not a trace of 'oops - sorry'.
 
#21 ·
Its easy to say, and I probably wouldn't bother, but you wonder if the threat of a small claims court procedure for damage to reputation/emotional distress might elicit at least an apology from the garage?

It is quite nerve wracking being stopped by the police even if you know you are not guilty of anything.

I have to say that my only experience of being cloned was about 20 years ago when the police visited my place of work to look my car over as the plates had been cloned and were being used somewhere oop north. The policeman was very helpful and everything must have been sorted as I didn't hear anything further. I hadn't had any speeding notifications or anything so I was unaware that it had been an issue at all. They had just stopped the clone car for other reasons and it probably didn't match the colour registered at DVLA or something.
 
#23 ·
Its easy to say, and I probably wouldn't bother, but you wonder if the threat of a small claims court procedure for damage to reputation/emotional distress might elicit at least an apology from the garage?
Nah, it was just irritating that when someone did the reg no lookup they didn't notice that the car and theft didn't match the registered vehicle at all, and simply wasn't possible. CCTV only works if someone has a brain.

However it would have become very sticky indeed if the car involved in the theft had been the same model and colour as hers. I can't see how she would have disproved it wasn't her. According to the Telegraph in March, 1 in 12 cars is now wearing cloned plates.
One in 12 cars 'have cloned number plates'
 
#30 ·
I don't know the full story but if the DVLA has no record of your car, i.e. it appears to them that it has never been registered here could you just apply as if registering it for the first time?

I registered an old motorbike earlier this year. It had been imported from the USA and had no documentation other than proof that tax had been paid on import. It was very straightforward to get it registered, I just had to get it MOT's first.

I suppose the downside would be that you would lose the MOT history associated with the old number plate but that is no different to changing to a personalised number plate. The Spider S4 I have just sold appears to have no MOT history because in my ownership I had personal plates on. I swapped these back to the original plate when I sold it.

3. New registrations
Your vehicle may not have been registered before with DVLA if it’s:

brand new
a kit car
imported
been rebuilt or radically altered
an old or classic vehicle
If you buy a brand new vehicle, the dealer will usually arrange for it to be registered. Otherwise, you need to follow the process below.

Making an application
Fill in form V55/4 or V55/5

For any type of newly registered vehicle, you must fill in either a:

V55/4 form to register a new vehicle, including new imported vehicles and newly-built (kit) cars
V55/5 form to register a used vehicle, including rebuilt vehicles, used imported vehicles and older vehicles that have never been registered
Get the forms from DVLA’s form ordering service.


Good luck, it must be very frustrating.
 
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