Police removing number plates - huh?
Discussion
I've noticed over here (on the telly, RTA guidelines and seen it on the street) that the police will remove numberplates off a car on the spot.
To me this seems a bit odd. Surely they can fine / prosecute / ban someone without removing the plates, just as easily as they can immobilise it or have a low loader take it away.
For example, there was a chap on the telly who was speeding. The police stopped him, gave him a telling off, then took his number plates. Does this mean he was supposed to call for a low loader? How does he get them back? What if he drives without them? Is this just to piss him off?
And then if the police do impound the car (after removing the plates) surely they have an impound yard full of cars without plates.. which must make identification a lot more difficult.
Confused! Funny country - first their winter and summers are the wrong way round, and now this!
To me this seems a bit odd. Surely they can fine / prosecute / ban someone without removing the plates, just as easily as they can immobilise it or have a low loader take it away.
For example, there was a chap on the telly who was speeding. The police stopped him, gave him a telling off, then took his number plates. Does this mean he was supposed to call for a low loader? How does he get them back? What if he drives without them? Is this just to piss him off?
And then if the police do impound the car (after removing the plates) surely they have an impound yard full of cars without plates.. which must make identification a lot more difficult.
Confused! Funny country - first their winter and summers are the wrong way round, and now this!
I witnessed this first hand yesterday in Northbridge.
They had pulled a woman over at the side of the road and as I walked last I saw the officer unscrewing the license plate from the front which I thought to be quite odd at the time.
So does anyone know the official reason for this?
They had pulled a woman over at the side of the road and as I walked last I saw the officer unscrewing the license plate from the front which I thought to be quite odd at the time.
So does anyone know the official reason for this?
NSNO said:
I witnessed this first hand yesterday in Northbridge.
They had pulled a woman over at the side of the road and as I walked last I saw the officer unscrewing the license plate from the front which I thought to be quite odd at the time.
So does anyone know the official reason for this?
Easier than impounding the car, and woe betide you if you drive it around without plates. I did read somewhere the law had just changed, something to do with additional hooning laws enabling removal of plates, I'll see if i can find it.They had pulled a woman over at the side of the road and as I walked last I saw the officer unscrewing the license plate from the front which I thought to be quite odd at the time.
So does anyone know the official reason for this?
I got done for no rego a few years back though, which you'd think would mean plate removal, but no, just told to move the car to a patch of nearby wasteground.
ETA:
RTA page on hoon offences said:
Number plate confiscation
Where a driver commits one of the offences above and is the registered operator of the offending vehicle, Police may confiscate the number plates at the roadside as an alternative to the long-standing practice of impounding the vehicle. Vehicle impoundment or plate confiscation will be for a fixed three-month period. A person may apply to the local court for an order for the early release of confiscated plates or an impounded vehicle.
The changes also see the introduction of tough new penalties for those who use a vehicle that has had its number plates confiscated. This includes driving a vehicle with no plates or false plates. Heavy penalties also apply to altering, tampering with or replicating a production notice sticker which Police will attach to a vehicle when number plates are removed.
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/usingroads/penalties/street_racing_burnouts.htmlWhere a driver commits one of the offences above and is the registered operator of the offending vehicle, Police may confiscate the number plates at the roadside as an alternative to the long-standing practice of impounding the vehicle. Vehicle impoundment or plate confiscation will be for a fixed three-month period. A person may apply to the local court for an order for the early release of confiscated plates or an impounded vehicle.
The changes also see the introduction of tough new penalties for those who use a vehicle that has had its number plates confiscated. This includes driving a vehicle with no plates or false plates. Heavy penalties also apply to altering, tampering with or replicating a production notice sticker which Police will attach to a vehicle when number plates are removed.
Edited by Google [bot] on Friday 31st August 03:14
Edited by Google [bot] on Friday 31st August 03:15
It happened to my son in Melbourne.
He had the TR8 down there when he was doing a course for a couple of months. It had the private plate TR8.
The last night he'd had one beer, before he drove up to town to get a few pizzas for a bunch of them. He was stopped & breathalysed, with a reading of 0.051.
The cops removed his plates, damaging the fiberglass bumper it was screwed to, & took him to the station. There he was retested 4 times, but they could not get a reading over0.042, a fully legal reading.
They at least took him back to his car, but had somehow lost the number plates. He had to stay an extra day in Melbourne, [real punishment], getting Victorian registration, before he could drive back to Sydney.
There was no apology, & we never did get the private plates back. Peanuts!
He had the TR8 down there when he was doing a course for a couple of months. It had the private plate TR8.
The last night he'd had one beer, before he drove up to town to get a few pizzas for a bunch of them. He was stopped & breathalysed, with a reading of 0.051.
The cops removed his plates, damaging the fiberglass bumper it was screwed to, & took him to the station. There he was retested 4 times, but they could not get a reading over0.042, a fully legal reading.
They at least took him back to his car, but had somehow lost the number plates. He had to stay an extra day in Melbourne, [real punishment], getting Victorian registration, before he could drive back to Sydney.
There was no apology, & we never did get the private plates back. Peanuts!
This does not surprise me. This to me sounds like a stupid rule allowing the police to potentially damage your P&J.
The trouble is you can just never be sure whether you are going to come up against someone able to exercise common sense and courtesy (ie innocent until proven guilty of whatever they suspect you of) or just some arse know-it-all who is on a power trip. It's not the badge I hate by the way, its just a minority of cops who give the rest a bad name. I have had some very reasonable experiences and some irritating in the extreme. The only way to avoid it I guess is to not give them a reason to pull you over. Shame that in Aus there are more rules than other places that give the police the right to do it, hence more power trips.
The trouble is you can just never be sure whether you are going to come up against someone able to exercise common sense and courtesy (ie innocent until proven guilty of whatever they suspect you of) or just some arse know-it-all who is on a power trip. It's not the badge I hate by the way, its just a minority of cops who give the rest a bad name. I have had some very reasonable experiences and some irritating in the extreme. The only way to avoid it I guess is to not give them a reason to pull you over. Shame that in Aus there are more rules than other places that give the police the right to do it, hence more power trips.
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