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[Misc] Appealing Toll Charges Incurred By Cloned Car



Crispy Ambulance

Well-known member
May 27, 2010
2,433
Burgess Hill
Dear great and good of NSC

I wonder if you could advise how my youngest son (aged 21) can get erroneous toll charges cancelled and stopped.

On 12th June this year, he was surpised to receive 2 separate Notices from a company called Eflow informing him that his car had used the M50 Toll in Dublin on 4 occasions and he had not paid for the journeys. They provided photos showing his car numberplate and the make and model of his car, as well as the dates and times the photos were taken (mostly in the middle of the night). His 'surprise' was due to the fact that a) he's never been to Dublin (or anywhere in Eire) and, b), since buying the car in October 2022, it has never been to Eire either. The Notice requested he made payment to Euro Parking Collection plc. It also provided an address in case he wished to appeal in writing.

On 14th June, he sent them a letter informing them that he'd never been to Eire and neither had his car since he bought it. He also advised them that, on 3 of the dates/times, the car was parked on the drive outside his home in Burgess Hill and, on one date/time, it was parked in a secure car park at Gatwick where he works.

He continued to receive additional letters/charges showing new dates/times 'his' car was snapped on the M50 Toll and rang Eflow who told him it can take up to a couple of months for correspondence to be answered. In the meantime, he contacted Sussex Police and explained the situation. They informed him that he would need to contact the Garda as it was out of their jurisdiction, which he duly did both by phone, and email. They, in turn, forwarded his email to their department who deal with cloned vehicles but he still hasn't heard anything.

Today, he received another letter from EPCplc (dated 22nd August) informing him that his appeal has been rejected as 'it remains the responsibility of any motorist, regardless of their nationality or if they live abroad and drive within the relevant jurisdiction of the issuing organisation, to familiarise themselves with the regulatory road signs'. (Bit f***ing difficult when you've never been to the country in the first place!). They won't entertain any further communication which doesn't contain new pertinent information or evidence and have extended his payment due date by 28 days. The total for charges and late payment fees currently amounts to around £400!

He's sent another email off to the Dublin roads policing people today but, as yet, not received anything back.

There's clearly a cloned vehicle driving around Dublin incurring toll charges galore and these will presumably continue until such time as the Garda take action

In the meantime, is there anything else you can suggest he does?

Many thanks for your advice.
 




Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
23,729
If they kept sending me letters I'd simply inform that it is not my car and I am not paying. End of.

If he's got the evidence he wasn't there then no court will rule in their favour.
 






beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,346
what authority do Irish speeding enforcement have in UK anyway ???
 






Greg Bobkin

Silver Seagull
May 22, 2012
14,984
Sounds like some very unwanted correspondence. I would email this fella (copying in customer services and anyone else you've had dealings with, including the police) and tell him that you don't appreciate being harassed and, unless they cease with the letters and demands for payments, you'll take the matter further and hold him fully responsible.

Good luck.
 






cjd

Well-known member
Jun 22, 2006
6,116
La Rochelle
One of the very few advantages of Brexit....maybe...?
 


Crispy Ambulance

Well-known member
May 27, 2010
2,433
Burgess Hill
Sounds like some very unwanted correspondence. I would email this fella (copying in customer services and anyone else you've had dealings with, including the police) and tell him that you don't appreciate being harassed and, unless they cease with the letters and demands for payments, you'll take the matter further and hold him fully responsible.

Good luck.
That’s great, thank you
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
59,842
The Fatherland
One of the very few advantages of Brexit....maybe...?
This hassle doesn’t seem very advantageous to me.
 




Not Andy Naylor

Well-known member
Dec 12, 2007
8,803
Seven Dials
I had a similar experience with a cloned number plate using the Dartford Crossing. Fortunately the clone had the EU symbol on its number plate which mine didn't, so photographic evidence soon got me off the hook.

However, what disappointed me was a complete lack of interest from Essex police, Sussex police and the DVLA when I tried to report the existence of another car with my registration. Essex even told me to take it up with the Dartford Crossing people, ignoring the fact that I was trying to report a crime rather than avoid paying.
 




Colonel Mustard

Well-known member
Jun 18, 2023
2,080
I would send them a 'cease and desist' letter and inform them that in future I'll bill for my time. Each email £25, each letter £50. Once they get an invoice, someone has to take notice.
 




zefarelly

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
21,877
Sussex, by the sea
One of the very few advantages of Brexit....maybe...?
Getting deported to Ireland, yes, thats's quite possibly an adantage.

sounds to me like private company, like the scumbag parking sharks Round Btn.

a simple letter with proof as has already been said, and ignore the rest.

even if your car is the clone you can prove it wasn't you.
 
Last edited:
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marlowe

Well-known member
Dec 13, 2015
3,938
I once received a number of parking tickets from a cloned car. Because the cloned vehicle was parked it was photographed close up from a number of different angles by the parking enforcement officer.

From each photo I was able to point out a number of discrepencies with my vehicle including different shaped radiator grill, different hub cap design, different upholstery covers, different dashboard design, different wording on number plate, different coloured wing mirrors etc.

Obviously that would be more diffiicult to do with a vehicle photographed from distance.

Sussex Police weren't remotely interested either when I reported it to them, despite the potential for committing far more serious offences with a cloned car other than mere parking offences.
 


Fungus

Well-known member
NSC Patron
May 21, 2004
7,049
Truro
My wife once had the number plates nicked off her Micra. We reported it to the police, but next day I got stopped twice on the way to buying replacements. Then we started getting speeding tickets from another part of the country, and requested to see the photographs. Fortunately, the idiots had put her plates on a Range Rover, so the police agreed to flag it on their systems.
 




Official Old Man

Uckfield Seagull
Aug 27, 2011
8,590
Brighton
Reading all this, it occurs to me how easy it must be to clone a car. Then drive around for 6 months without a care regarding speeding fines, insurance or tax. Dump the plates in 6 months and put on new ones.
Thinking about it, untax your car, they'd soon find the clone car then as ANPR would come up UNTAXED when the cloned car went out.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
59,842
The Fatherland
Reading all this, it occurs to me how easy it must be to clone a car. Then drive around for 6 months without a care regarding speeding fines, insurance or tax. Dump the plates in 6 months and put on new ones.
Thinking about it, untax your car, they'd soon find the clone car then as ANPR would come up UNTAXED when the cloned car went out.
I guess the only way you will get caught is if you're stopped?
 


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