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[Genem]

This is pretty rare but what on earth was the man thinking. He must have been on a very good salary but it appears he chose to avoid road tax by putting the same plate on two identical cars.

Hopefully the Polis or DVLA throw the book at him !

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-58288290

[w3526602]

Hi,

In the early days of DVLC, there was a case of two cars with the same registration (presumably the fault occured before DVLC went live).

Both owners were getting both VED renewal reminders.

OT ... another anomoly (sp?) was that Austin and Morris cars shared model names on some export models, but not necessarily for the same vehicle in UK and USA (eg: Austin Marina, I seem to remember). Not a problem ... until a car returned to UK, and joined the DVLA Club.

To save computer storage space, everything was reduced to a code number, so once you had the Manufacturer's name, all other details were coded ... but specific to the manufacturer. So an Austin Marina would be given some other model, from the Austin range.

A favourite mistake was the Honda 50cc Fire Engine, which memory says was due to the body type "11" being keyed as body type "17" (or something like that). The computer was incapable of seeing the joke.

The Ariel 3, was a MOPED with three wheels (picture anybody?), and it became obvious that the Systems Analysts had not anticipated there being "any such animal" as a three-wheeled moped.

The computer was programmed to reject driving licence applications from people claiming to be born on 29th February, unless it was a leap year. But one such applicant supported his rejected application with a birth certificate showing such an impossible date. 

Our programmers managed to wangle a rare motor car through the system ... giving it a V5 showing ...

Manufacturer = Mercedes

Body type = 1901 DAIMLER BENZ DOG CART (It would normally have been 2-AXLE RIGID BODY )

602

[oilstain]

Picture-
if it had twin front wheels would it be a car?
If it had twin front wheels it would have been a Quad bike?

[Peter Holden]

A strange thing, I seem to remember that there was a pivot below the seat so that you could lean into a corner.

They looked a bit like a motorised childs trike

Peter

[oddjob]

This is pretty rare but what on earth was the man thinking. He must have been on a very good salary but it appears he chose to avoid road tax by putting the same plate on two identical cars.

Hopefully the Polis or DVLA throw the book at him !

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-58288290

Identical cars but totally different colours! 

[Alan Drover]

My old Ariel 3, MlU 410L which a mate took off my hands many decades ago is shown on the DVLA records as currently taxed. Yes, there was a pivot where the bottom beam met the rear section so the rider could lean into corners. I believe the engine was Dutch made, Anker or similar.

[Alan Drover]

On the DVLA records it's shown as a BSA, taxed till 1/5/22.

[gvo416j R.I.P.]

This is pretty rare but what on earth was the man thinking. He must have been on a very good salary but it appears he chose to avoid road tax by putting the same plate on two identical cars.

Hopefully the Polis or DVLA throw the book at him !

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-58288290

An uncommon but not unknown scam  - at least to me.

In the days before the 25 year exempt tax class was created [the forerunner to the present historic] a self employed local guy ran 2 bright yellow 109" S1 truck cab vehicles on the same plate. A standard one which was his main work support and tow vehicle and a souped up V8 engined beast. He was found out after a new MOT tester at the local garage insisted on checking the chassis number, even though it was [and still not is AFAIK] required for that age of vehicle. Test refused -- followed by a visit to his site a while later by a dvla person accompanied by a plod.
The unused vehicle of the fraudulent pair was in its shed [as usual - he always kept whichever one was not in use well out of sight] and the one on which the test was refused was parked in the yard along with about 12 sundry others in various stages of dismantling/restoration [including about 7 Lwb S1]. With the gift of the gab, which he had in abundance, he sweet talked them into belief that it was a simple mistake of mis-remembering which vehicles were which. The dvla man took notes of the various chassis numbers of the visible vehicles and sent him a list of which of the number plates/body tubs went with each vehicle and the police gave him a talking to about taking more care to get them re-assembled correctly and left it at that.

[AlexB]

I had heard it suggested that some french land rover folk have 1 set of papers for 2 vehicles; 1 standard, 1 modified 

I'm sure it hasn't happened 

[andyjb]

I've seen this before on one of those Police Interceptors programmes. Bloke had two transit vans with the same number plate, can't remember the outcome though. Just my opinion though he should have been sacked and not allowed to retire. It's a disgrace by him in that position.

[Herald1360]

My old Ariel 3, MlU 410L which a mate took off my hands many decades ago is shown on the DVLA records as currently taxed. Yes, there was a pivot where the bottom beam met the rear section so the rider could lean into corners. I believe the engine was Dutch made, Anker or similar.

MLU 410L perhaps?

MIU 410L would never have been issued.

[w3526602]

MIU 410L would never have been issued.

Hi Herald,

I believe Alfa I and Alfa Z, were only issued in Ireland, but appear to be acceptable, on non-suffix plates that have been "Cherished Transferred" to lots of coaches (charabancs?) on the main-land, presumably so that the passengers cannot work out how old a vehicle they are travelling in.

MN and MAN, were only issued by the Isle of Mann, and cannot be transferred to the mainland UK vehicles. (Does the I of M stil have "flogging" on their Statute Book? We all know that they have "road racing".

With the gift of the gab, which he had in abundance, he sweet talked them into belief that it was a simple mistake of mis-remembering which vehicles were which

He was lucky. In my day, even a genuine mistake in two legitimate tax discs onto two vehicles owned by the same person, but swapped, would have counted as two cases of fraudulent use, and passed onto the Courts (who do have discretion).

Alan, I will be sending a PM in a few minutes.

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[Matt Reeves]

Personally I could care less if someone who owns two identical vehicles swaps plates to avoid paying tax, insurance etc twice, providing they are only using one at a time what difference does it make in the grand scheme of things.

I know plenty will disagree with this, but taking it a step further I'd be happy to see NOT's become a thing of the past and insurance to become optional, why? I've just had my daily run about (an 08 Toyota Yaris) MOT'd, it failed due to a fault with the EGR valve which put the MIL warning light on and corrosion on the rear brake pipes, the tester (who I don't know) offered to pass it for £50, but I declined his generous offer and got it sorted properly. How many like him are there out there?

[diffwhine]

I heard of a case with a Rover dealer where two identical Rover 216s sold at the same time to different customers got mixed up. They had one number plate from one car crossed over, so both cars had two different registration numbers. It was only spotted when one car came back for its first service...

I also once had a Defender delivered from the factory bearing three different chassis numbers. The number in the screen differed from the number on the pedal box which differed from the one on the chassis... I was told this was impossible and could never happen. Then the importer in Argentina rang up Land Rover and said he had received two vehicles with the same issue.

Can you imagine the paperwork nightmare dealing with three vehicles spread across the world and two having been imported into an overseas market on the wrong identities!

[kev]

I have an interesting photo of two of our company vans with the same (cherished) plate parked outside just before the plate was removed from the old van we had just upgraded.
(But I’m not posting it here.😁)