A motorist from Wembley, London had luck on his side when he was able to dodge a speeding fine that had been issued in Lincoln. The male driver who has chosen to remain anonymous was shocked when he heard news that he had been caught speeding at 35 mph in Lincoln, even though his BMW 2 Series hire car was in London at the time. The police issued a £100 fine and 3 points on his license but thanks to the telematics in the BMW he was able to get this overturned.
The driver was unsurprisingly shocked by the situation, stating: "I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I first opened the letter saying I'd been caught speeding in a city I hadn't even visited for years. At first you question yourself but ultimately I knew I hadn't been to Lincoln, and certainly not to break the speed limit."
Thankfully the In-Car Cleverness telematics device was able to be analysed by Asset Protection Unit (APU) and found that the Wembley driver was innocent meaning that the car involved in Lincoln had a clone registration plate. It is thought that thousands of cars are cloned each year which leads to innocent motorists getting unexpected fines whilst the criminals get away with it.
Neil Thomas, director of investigative services at APU, said: "It's very satisfying to help out innocent motorists of course, but the real worry here is that it's almost certain the vehicle in question has been cloned.
"It's usually linked to large-scale organised crime, and it's hard to stamp out because the clone is registered to the innocent owner's address so you have to catch the crooks out on the road.
"However, we believe criminals are increasingly using cloned cars so that innocent drivers shoulder the blame for their inexcusable driving."