A transport official has advised motorists to inform the police if they receive fines that may have their registration plate details, but are not for their vehicles.
A transport official has advised motorists to inform the police if they receive fines that may have their registration plate details, but are not for their vehicles.
The reports that a motorist has received 13 fines since 1999 for offences recorded by speed cameras. The fines have details of his registration number, but it is not his car. Don Murray of Pinelands has a maroon 1998 VW Polo, but the car caught in all the photographs is a white BMW. He has received fines ranging from R60 to R450.
Murray said he thinks the BMW driver bought false number plates to avoid being caught by traffic authorities.
Murray is now fed up, having had to repeatedly explain the situation to traffic authorities at Green Point and Hillstar.
“This is a damn nuisance because that is not my car in the picture,” he said. Murray has been told by the traffic department that he will not be prosecuted for the speeding offences.
“Why bother with speed cameras if you purchase a number plate with false numbers?,” Murray asked. “And how is this for an excuse if caught… say your correct number is CA 196-427 and then purchase your front plate as CA 196-247 and say the supplier of the number plate erred by transposing two numbers.”
Murray has been advised to change his registration number. “But why should I? This is my number,” said Murray.
Logan Maistry of the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Department said motorists should check their fines and immediately report it if they thought someone else was using duplicate plates. “First check with the motor licensing bureau if there has been a mistake and two cars have maybe been registered with the same number. If not, then report it to the police and traffic officials so these offenders can be tracked down. I know it is inconvenient, but you will have to change your registration number to stop it from continuing,” he told CARtoday.com.
He said motorists caught doing this would be charged for not having valid plates and could also face charges of fraud and corruption.
