Stolen number plates: police pull over driver on Bulleen Road
An unsuspecting driver was heading to uni when a police radar detected she was driving a stolen car. So what caused the confusion?
East
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An unsuspecting driver was given a terrible scare when police pulled her over in Bulleen for driving a stolen car.
The shocked and upset woman, who was heading to university when the police’s number plate recognition system detected her Holden Captiva had been stolen, was adamant the car was her, according to Leading Senior Constable Carla Reardon said.
Little did she know, someone had swiped her number plates and replaced them with stolen ones.
“She had no idea her number plates were stolen,” Leading Sen-Constable Reardon said.
She said the woman did not know when her number plates had been taken, or how long she could have been driving around with stolen ones when she was stopped on Bulleen Rd on October 29.
Number plate theft is a common issue, according to the Leading Sen-Constable, who is urging drivers to fix their number plates with one-way screws to avoid ending up in a similar situation.
She said while the rate fluctuated, there was usually several reports of number plate thefts in Manningham each week.
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Leading Sen-Constable Reardon said most thieves didn’t replace the plates, making it more obvious they had been taken.
But she said some put other plates on cars to get “a head start” — hoping the owner’s wouldn’t realise and report the plates stolen immediately.
One-way screws — which are available at most police stations — are much harder to remove than normal screws.
“If thieves have the choice between two cars, they’ll go for the one without the one-way screws,” she said.
Doncaster police offer the screws in return for a gold coin donation.