Beware of posting a photo of a car you are selling?

I have just sold a Volvo XC70 and in the post this morning received a TFL penalty notice for stopping on a Red route?

My car had been advertised on Facebook, Gumtree.

I live in Maidstone and the car had not moved for two weeks and had never been to London?

Looking at the PCR photos they show a car with mud flaps and tow hitch? mine does not.

It is my number plate, not my car, so must be cloned.

Who is to say it is from selling it? Although Facebook and gumtree are ahem interesting choice in the first place.

A VRN is public information anyway. A quick check again the DVLA API will give a lot of information.

I know opinions will differ on this but we are creating a generation that won’t have any photographs. No cars, and don’t forget about the children as well; gosh mum at schools get hysterical when someone is photographing in the street. And so on.

When in public it’s public. Those who are wilfully uncompliant will be.

What makes you certain it's from selling. If your car has been sitting still for so long, could be someone's noticed it ain't moving so had the plates made up n now have free tax insurance and mot. All you gotta do is go on ebay or amazon buy some plates and your laughing

Not sure about how ‘donors’ are acquired but cloning is rife in the UK

. Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Tinman wrote:

Beware of posting a photo of a car you are selling?

I have just sold a Volvo XC70 and in the post this morning received a TFL penalty notice for stopping on a Red route?

My car had been advertised on Facebook, Gumtree.

I live in Maidstone and the car had not moved for two weeks and had never been to London?

Looking at the PCR photos they show a car with mud flaps and tow hitch? mine does not.

It is my number plate, not my car, so must be cloned.

Sorry to hear of your problems.

It seems to me that a number plate is "public" but only if you walk past it! Putting a photograph on-line allows it to be seen by thousands more people and so the risk of cloning is increased many, many times over.

All my vehicles have personal (vanity?) plates fitted which I tell myself makes them less susceptible to cloning. But I would still remove them or at least hide a bit of them in photographs I expected to get in the wider on-line world.

Each to their own and thanks for the warning.  2010 Range Rover TDV8 Baltic Blue Autobiography (2011 MY) - SOLD
1960 Land Rover SII SWB SW
2020 BMW R1250 RT LE
2021 Triton ST-125 (Monkey Bike)