Obscuring number plates

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Tue 21 Sep 2004 14:12
Obscuring number plates - Mike H
I may be obtuse but I can't think of a good reason why people blank out their number plates when posting pictures of cars, for example in "for sale" ads. I have racked my brains and can't think why someone who is on the level would do this. Can anyone explain??
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Tue 21 Sep 2004 14:24
Obscuring number plates - L'escargot
I may be obtuse but I can't think of a good
reason why people blank out their number plates when posting pictures
of cars, for example in "for sale" ads. I have
racked my brains and can't think why someone who is on
the level would do this. Can anyone explain??


Perhaps because it helps to stop lowlife producing a clone of their car?
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Tue 21 Sep 2004 14:37
Obscuring number plates - patently
It's in case someone discards the newspaper and the wind catches it & blows it past a speed camera. If the camera angle is right and the wind is strong enough, the camera might capture the image of the car and a NIP will then arrive in the post. Explaining that one away would be a nightmare.

Although our esteemed curly-shelled one may have a point.

;-)
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Tue 21 Sep 2004 15:53
Obscuring number plates - richy
Perhaps because it helps to stop lowlife producing a clone of
their car?


very difficult to get number plates made up nowdays without showing correct documentation.
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Tue 21 Sep 2004 14:56
Obscuring number plates - MarkSmith
The reason is so that people don't use their numbers for stolen/ringed etc. vehicles - see a vehicle in the paper like the one you have stolen/ringed, and use their number -> it looks kosher.

I'm not convinced it's necessary - my car is parked outside my house with the number plate on display and someone could just copy it from there - but that's why it's done.

-Mark
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Tue 21 Sep 2004 15:25
Obscuring number plates - henry k
I'm not convinced it's necessary - my car is parked outside
my house with the number plate on display and someone could
just copy it from there

If you are intent on cloning then a quick search of Autotrader with your spec car defined and Show Photos switched on will provide lots to choose from.
All from the comfort of your home PC rather than treking round the streets looking for a model match.
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Tue 21 Sep 2004 15:32
Obscuring number plates - pdc {P}
I did a 9 hour drag from Catterick to Leuchars and back again a few weeks ago, mostly confined to the A1, and on the journey I passed about 10 "recovery" vehicles from the same comapany which were transporting cars which looked as though they were going to be scrapped. Each and everyone of the vehicles on the trucks had black tape covering the index.

I presume to prevent cloning of scrapped vehicles.
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Tue 21 Sep 2004 15:50
Obscuring number plates - richy
When transporting a car on a trailer or flatbed truck the car's number should be obscured so that the recovery vehicle's reg number is the most prominent. Lost count of the number of times I've seen it not done though, that's why it stands out when people do it right.
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Tue 21 Sep 2004 16:22
Obscuring number plates - Cliff Pope
"very difficult to get number plates made up nowdays without showing correct documentation."


Quite easy actually - try www.numberplate-solutions.co.uk/pbtrans.asp
or www.buypartsby.co.uk/
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Tue 21 Sep 2004 17:21
Obscuring number plates - Truckosaurus
Similarly I've seen a few pictures of (marked) Police vehicles in the local paper with the number plates blanked out.
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