‘Don’t buy it’: New twist in case of offensive personalised number plate

There’s been a shock twist in the case of a personalised New South Wales number plate deemed offensive, with authorities demanding answers.

A personalised number plate deemed deeply offensive to the Jewish community in Australia has mysteriously vanished after authorities ordered its return, it’s been revealed.

Transport for New South Wales last week demanded the motorist hand in their plates, reading OCT7TH, after a public outcry over the apparent celebration of Hamas terror attacks in Israel carried out on that date.

Social media vision of the vehicle, spotted in western Sydney, sparked a flood of anger and prompted complaints to authorities.

However, it was only after reporting in The Daily Telegraph that officials intervened and cancelled the plates, requiring the owner to return them.

Social media vision of the personalised number plates sparked outrage and an intervention by the government. Picture: X

Now, in a shock twist, the motorist claims he can’t hand them back because they’ve gone missing.

“No one will buy his excuse,” Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told news.com.au.

“No doubt the individual is intending to keep the plate as a morbid memento. He should ask himself what sort of a person looks at beheading and mass rape and abduction as something to rejoice in.”

Hamas militants carried out co-ordinated attacks in Israel on October 7, killing 1000 people and taking hundreds more hostage.

The atrocities sparked military operations in Gaza that are ongoing, the death toll from which stands at 27,000, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry.

A recent spate of seemingly anti-Semitic personalised number plates showed people had become “emboldened” to express hate in public ways in the wake of the war in Gaza, he said.

“For as long as people are able to get away with such acts with no legal, social or professional consequences others will follow suit and the fault lines in our society will only deepen.”

Alex Ryvchin doesn’t buy the motorist’s excuse. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.

Roads Minister John Graham is also sceptical about the driver’s claim that the plates went missing immediately after they were cancelled.

“In a tiny fraction of cases licence plates can go missing but we are very keen to understand how these particular plates were lost less than 48 hours after making front page news for their message of intolerance and division,’’ Mr Graham told The Daily Telegraph.

“An instruction to surrender offensive licence plates is not a negotiation. In fact, it’s black and white — we expect these plates to be returned.”

Refusing to return cancelled number plates can result in a fine of $2000.

Authorities have ordered the driver to lodge a statutory declaration, detailing how the plates went missing, and noted that false declarations are punishable with a fine of $22,000 and possible jail time.

“Let me spell it out: If they are in your possession, give them back. They remain the property of Transport for NSW,” Mr Graham said.

“The NSW Government has zero tolerance for hate speech. We are not going to tolerate hatred and intolerance being spread in the community.”

These number plates were cancelled late last year following complaints from the public.

Authorities have implemented new measures concerning personalised plates, including immediately assessing complaints instead of reviewing them once a month, as was previously the case.

Tighter filters on possible hate speech have also been introduced.

In September, another anti-Semitic number plate reading 88SEIG – a coded reference to ‘Heil Hitler’ – was cancelled.

And yesterday, Transport for NSW said a personalised plate reading NAAZI4 had also been revoked.

That’s despite authorities being satisfied the combination was in reference to the owner’s name.

Originally published as ‘Don’t buy it’: New twist in case of offensive personalised number plate