Kent driver discovered quantity plate was cloned after an accident 280 miles away

A Kent lady realized that her automobile registration plate was cloned by her insurance coverage firm after being accused of being greater than 280 miles (340 km) in Liverpool.

Sheli Bircate from Herne Bay mentioned that she had “never gone to Liverpool in my life” and to show that she was not within the metropolis at the moment.

That quantity plate is among the variety of victims of fraud, by which plates could also be copied or stolen.

Kent police mentioned that studies of such crime had been growing in recent times.

The case of Ms. Bircate finally proved that she was in her hometown on the day it occurred.

She mentioned that she was doing her personal enterprise “at home” on the time of the incident in Liverpool, and the scenario was “scary”.

“I said it was not me, but he asked me to prove his hideout and send pictures of his car status, and he continued the investigation,” he mentioned.

“Then I remembered that I could use my Google places and fortunately I was in Herne Bay and I posted some videos on my business page on social media, proving that I was at work that day.”

Ms. Bircate mentioned not solely her quantity plate was cloned, “they would put it on the same make car”.

He informed the BBC South East that he had additionally obtained letters from the insurance coverage firm's legal professionals, when the matter was closed.

Motoring group RAC acknowledged that criminals steal or copy the identification of a legally registered automobile and use it to cover the identification of stolen or boiled automobiles, usually related in fashions and look.

Criminals will both steal the registration plates from the automobile or put duplicate quantity plates to place it on every other automobile.

Often they detect quantity plates to clone on-line, for instance by way of pictures on web sites shopping for and promoting vehicles.

The new figures obtained by the BBC have elevated by 37% in 4 years within the report of quantity plate theft in Kent.

According to the independence of knowledge request, 1,120 circumstances had been reported in 2024 in 2020 in comparison with 815.

Last yr BBC revealed 64% improve in three years In the variety of canceled effective attributable to automobile cloning incidents in London.

CH SUPT ROB Marsh of Kent Police mentioned: “In relation to the theft of number plate, people are clearly using them to commit other crimes such as the crowd is to avoid charging, other road toll fees, whether it is closed without paying for fuel.

“With an increase in the cost of life, which can sometimes be a reason for people to engage in this type of criminality.

“If somebody wakes up within the morning, and their quantity plate is lacking, they know that they’ve been victims of crime.

“If the number is the plate, we have been unaware of the victim, we have been cloned, we have to wait for it to trigger the ANPR camera associated with another incident and then it will come to our attention and then we will start our investigation.”

The residence workplace mentioned: “Cloning and exclusion of number plates affects road safety and provides covers for criminals. We are working with police, DVLA and other partners to scratch these crimes.

“We started work on a brand new street security technique, in additional than a decade, aimed toward lowering street deaths and stopping associated crime. More particulars might be shared within the appointed time.”