A speedy tractor !
By topffer
@topffer (42156)
France
July 10, 2017 8:21am CST
It happened again ! A French tractor has been recorded this month at 88 km/h by an automatic speed camera in Bingen, Germany, at 1200 km of its farm, when her owner was in holidays in Spain. Indeed, it is not the tractor that has been recorded at this speed, but a car with the same licence plate, and the ticket has been sent to the owner of the tractor. During years in France wearing a fake licence plate was not sentenced very heavily and there were many people doing it. It has changed and now a fake plate can send the owner of the car to jail for 5 years+a 3750 Euros fee+confiscation of the car. If the plate is owned by another vehicle the sentence can be 7 years and a 30 000 Euros fee. Apparently it does not dissuade some people to do it, and more than 10000 drivers of cars wearing fake plates are arrested every year. If the licence plate pertains to a tractor like here, it is easy to prove that a tractor cannot run at 88 km/h, but when it pertains to the same car model/same color in the same area, the owner of the plate may find very difficult to prove that he/she is innocent.
Some people do not lack of imagination and are more difficult to arrest than others. I heard that a small removal firm had 2 trucks of the same model with the same plate. The goal was to save on insurances. The trucks were not based at the same place, so it was quite impossible to find the fraud. But something that had 1 chance/1 billion to happen happened : the two trucks got an accident the same day and the insurance company discovered the fraud !
What about fake licence plates in your country ?
Picture : public domain from Pixabay.
9 people like this
10 responses
@LadyDuck (457925)
• Switzerland
10 Jul 17
Here we can have two cars using the same plate. The plate must be one, we move the plate to the car we are using. A few years ago Mr. Alain Delon (who is now Swiss citizen), decided to have a copy of his Swiss plate made in France, so not to be annoyed to switch the plate. Well he was caught and he was fined 1,500 Swiss Francs. No jail because the plate was not fake, but he did something that is now allowed. If you ask for a duplicate plate you must give back the old one. If you have lost the plate, or it is stolen, the lost one is canceled and you get a new one.
3 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
10 Jul 17
2 cars with the same plate ? I never heard of that before. Delon has a dual citizenship, he is still French, but I was also not knowing this detail : 1500 Euros for him is like 1 Euro for me
.
We have also to give back the plates, but I do not think that the number is canceled if the plates are stolen. Many shops are equipped legally to copy plates and I suspect that some of them would print any plate with the right amount of money offered...
.
We have also to give back the plates, but I do not think that the number is canceled if the plates are stolen. Many shops are equipped legally to copy plates and I suspect that some of them would print any plate with the right amount of money offered...3 people like this
@LadyDuck (457925)
• Switzerland
10 Jul 17
@topffer It has always been this way in Switzerland, if someone owns two cars, he is allowed to have one plate that can be moved on the car that is in use. This is what my husband had for 10 years, since we moved here. Now he sold both cars to buy a new one and the plate is now registered as a "single plate". There are many advantages having 1 plate for 2 cars, you only pay a very reduced "circulation tax" on the smaller car and also a reduced insurance.
3 people like this
@marguicha (215346)
• Chile
10 Jul 17
We don´t have that problem here. The number of the plate is given to a new car an the plate lasts forever. It is associated with the number of the motor and other ways of identifying the car. Each year, we pay a circulation permit that lasts for a year. For that, you need to bring the car papers (that include the licence number and a check on gas emissions
2 people like this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
10 Jul 17
Strong penalty tops like in France as Spain is famous for all that kind of thing.
Some of it could be quite funny actually and some of it is.
The one about the two trucks is funny also.
Some will get up to anything quite amazing but now there is Jail for them if they are caught out.
2 people like this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
10 Jul 17
@topffer
Of course I know its not fun.
A few of the Stories can be though although they do pay the penalty now.
Like someone who pinched a motorbike right in front of the Forales Police and took off with it and it took them two hours to catch him.
A couple of days in Jail and he will be out.
He said he was doing if for fun see what I mean?
2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
10 Jul 17
@lovinangelsinstead21 Some people have nerves. It remembers me that several years ago some burglars put a chain and a lock on the gate of a gendarmerie before burgling a jewelry shop in the same street
. The gendarmes heard the alarm, but with the time they needed to open their door, the burglars were no more there.
. It remembers me that several years ago some burglars put a chain and a lock on the gate of a gendarmerie before burgling a jewelry shop in the same street. The gendarmes heard the alarm, but with the time they needed to open their door, the burglars were no more there.2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
10 Jul 17
The owner of the two trucks was just doing a fraud to not pay 1 insurance, and it was smart somewhere, but it might be a lot less funny if somebody uses your plate in your area ! You might have to pay for all the tickets given by radars, it is not fun.
2 people like this
@sabtraversa (12914)
• Italy
10 Jul 17
I thought you could cover the plate somehow, but I couldn't imagine some people would use fake plates. Here there used to be the habit of using CDs to reflect the flash light back so the photo the camera takes comes unclear. I think the cameras improved with time so this trick is no longer used.
2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
10 Jul 17
I remember this trick, it was also used in France. The number of people having fake plates increases in France. In 2011 13574 people were caught, 17429 in 2012, 22164 in 2013. An estimation from the ministry of the Interior in 2015 says that probably 400000 cars have fake plates in France. The Charlie Hebdo terrorists had fake plates on their car pertaining to somebody from Gren0ble.
2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
10 Jul 17
@sabtraversa I am quite surprised that it does not happen in Italy.
.1 person likes this
@sabtraversa (12914)
• Italy
10 Jul 17
@topffer Wow, that's a lot of people and cars. 
2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
13 Jul 17
@YrNemo I have no stats about people using these plates, but my guess is that they are mainly French.
I came back yesterday evening. It has been cloudy during the two days, but it did not rained
. I will start a discussion when I will have sorted out my photos.
. I will start a discussion when I will have sorted out my photos.1 person likes this
. I would not risk to go to jail just to not pay tickets, it is a bit stupid.
@JudyEv (325651)
• Rockingham, Australia
15 Jul 17
The firm with the two trucks must have thought they were pretty unlucky for such a thing to happen.
