New Zealand's Fake Plates Epidemic

New Zealand's largest city is the latest area to be hit by crime involving number plates. While many areas of the UK are suffering from theft of car registrations, citizens of Auckland are having their licence plates cloned.

Recent weeks have seen an increase in motorists of Auckland making complaints when issued with parkimg fines which, they claim, were not given as a result of their own driving. George Morris, a retired man from Manukau, near Auckland, was left baffled when he discovered a $460 parking fine issued to his car registration number. Apparently, the fine was incurred in Auckland, a city Mr. Morris hadn't visited for 30 years.

The council has received two or three similar complaints every day from innocent motorists, and Auckland police have concluded that vehicle identity theft, including the use of fake registration plates, is a huge problem which needs to be dealt with.

At the current time, the extent of the problem has not been fully established but there are talks of giving Manukau City Parking wardens access to a car registration database. This would help to reduce the rates of tickets issued to wrong vehicle owners.

Southern District Road Policing Inspector, Andrew Burns said that the problem is not being ignored and that offenders face fines of $200.

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