They later admitted it was a ‘stupid thing’ to do
Nobody enjoys receiving a parking fine, which explains why motorists will go to extraordinary measures to dodge them. But one driver confesses they went too far after facing a harsh consequence.
The unnamed motorist turned to Reddit to share their predicament. They revealed they had stripped off their number plates while parking at an unnamed UK university to sidestep a parking penalty.
The car park did not use automatic numberplate recognition technology (ANPR) but relied on parking wardens instead. The driver discovered upon returning that they had been issued a ticket – not from the warden, but from police officers.
They were seeking guidance after learning they could face a £1,000 penalty. The Lancashire-based user explained: “I had removed my registration plates and placed them in my vehicle in a private car park in a university where parking enforcement is in operation but no ANPR cameras, just attendants.
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“After returning to my vehicle a couple of hours later, I noticed a “FIXED PENALTY NOTICE” sticker attached to my windshield. However, once I opened this, there was no penalty notice, but a note from Lancashire Constabulary Neighborhood Police.
“The note read: ‘It is an offence to not display your vehicles number plates. Your vehicle details have been passed on to the police road traffic dept’.
“And on the reverse of the note, it has my VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) on it’. I presumed that as I was on private land there would be no requirement to display a registration mark. I noticed on the government’s website that if you drive without a correct registration then you could be fined up to £1,000. However, as I was not driving, I did not see an issue.”
They later confessed: “I’ve realised that this was a stupid thing to do, and won’t be doing it again. However, now that this has happened, I do not know what will happen next. A note saying that my VIN number has been passed on to the Road Traffic department doesn’t really tell me what is going to come of this.”
The Government’s official website confirms that drivers could face a fine of up to £1,000 and likely fail their MOT if they’re caught driving with an incorrectly displayed or missing number plate.
It further clarifies: “Number plates (also known as licence plates) must show your registration number correctly. You cannot rearrange letters or numbers, or alter them so that they’re hard to read.”
It is a legal requirement in the UK for vehicles to display number plates on both the front and rear while driving on public roads.