Stolen Number Plates!!!

Came back from the shops earlier today and happened to notice my rear number plate was missing. Checked the front of the car and realised the front was off too...a bit concerning. Obviously this has been reported to the police.

Happened to me, years ago. Reported it, as you have done, and heard nothing more.

But definitely report it; you need insulation in case it starts jumping lights, parking where it shouldn't, and speeding.

Or another identical, stolen car takes a trip on your legitimate plates all the way to a yard where it gets broken for parts.

Yes, that was the first thing that sprung to mind. I was given a crime report no., so hopefully if any stupidity comes of it, I should be ok

Alarmingly, it’s more common than I’d expected!

Yes, that was the first thing that sprung to mind. I was given a crime report no., so hopefully if any stupidity comes of it, I should be ok

Alarmingly, it’s more common than I’d expected!

That’s exactly what my mate mentioned

Fortunately you can’t order plates from a Halfords without your logbook which stops all the criminals in their tracks.... (like fork)

(...unless, of course, you’re in Scotland where the law doesn’t apply!)

What a nonsense!

So they just pinch your plates.

I wonder if a crime is committed whether I’ll get to know about it, as I have contacted the police and given them my details

One of my closest friends has just been to hell and back in a similar scenario. His plates weren't stolen but copied and this came to light when he was arrested last month on suspicion of filling up with fuel and taking off without paying, 6 times! This was all north of the border in southern Scotland.
Fortunately, on one occasion he could prove he was in Tenerife, and on the others, he was with clients but that didn't make him feel any better.

He drives a 4WD Passat with a distinctive OE boot spoiler but that was also what came up on all the cctv footage from filling stations, an identical looking car and the same colour! His saving grace is that he's about a foot shorter than the scumbag that's stealing fuel but that hasn't stopped the police tailing him on occasion until they can visually confirm who is actually driving the car.

I don't suppose there's a lot he can do until he's caught and will have to put up with all the police attention. Keep a record of where you go in the car would be my advice but hopefully don't get too paranoid.

Thank for that Rob,

I can envisage myself having an interesting time ahead. Just my luck! My faith in the police isn’t the greatest I’m afraid to say, but who knows, if something happens they might surprise me!

To be fair, there aren't a lot of coupes on the road, and it's rare we hear a report of one being stolen (though we've had a couple) so you do have to wonder what they want.

But I think that once the car is reported it should be on APNR for an automatic stop. I'd be inclined to carry my license and insurance documents for a while.

Many thanks, I’m going take your advice on that one

We had this done to ours and the plates were involved in a crime, then discarded. We reported this to the police and could confirm out locations so there was no issue.
As the time from the crime and then stealing was so long, in the end we decided to then just put on a private plates on the car.

Yes, I thought about putting private plates on, not sure if they wouldn’t still nick them though? I can just see interesting times ahead if a crime is committed. I reckon the police are still going to be questioning you after a crime has been committed.