Blanking-out Your Bike's Number plate On Photos.

[SteveW]

Why some people do this? Is it just a British thing? I don't recall seeing any blanked out number plates on pictures of bikes from over-seas, unless they were engaged in something illegal.

[Richard Simpson]

Because in our police state anyone can call in the police with a vehicle description and reg number and allege you were causing them 'alarm and distress' and the police can then confiscate your bike the next time they see it.

There's no defence or appeal.

[SteveW]

That sounds paranoid, and most unlikely!

[2 wheeled tourist]

Why some people do this? Is it just a British thing? I don't recall seeing any blanked out number plates on pictures of bikes from over-seas, unless they were engaged in something illegal.

This has been asked here before, and my, same, answer, for me, is that would you print your full name & address on the World Wide Web...No, I somehow doubt it. The same principle is very much the same to the bikes number-plate, showing its identity thus giving its address away to the, again, World Wide Web.

[Richard Simpson]

That sounds paranoid, and most unlikely!

Yes, but it is the law

http://www.fastcar.co.uk/2010/07/15/wha ... ection-59/

This country is now a police state.

They can stop you on a bright sunny day, confiscate your tinted visor and make you ride home without eye protection. They can stop you and seize your vehicle, and get away with it, and even shoot you multiple times at point blank range and get away with it. They can then sit down with their buddies in the canteen and put together a story about why they did it (they thought you were an Arab terrorist when in fact you were a Brazilian sparky, for instance). They just have to say that in their opinion it was the right thing to do. They don't get named, they don't have to go to court. They are pretty much unaccountable for their actions.

[special one]

FFS got any spare foil hats to hand out.

Problem with the Internet is hearsay and rumour becomes accepted as the truth, you are no more vulnerable IMO as my sign written van.

The police have to have reasonable grounds to seize your vehicle, if they could be bothered at all.

It wouldn't get to court as any lawyer would pull it apart without evidence.

Slightly over paranoid, I don't cover mine up, never have, never will.

[davsato]

no idea if richard is right or not, but yes we are paranoid here now because more often than not we're right

i blank out my numberplates because a helpful little foible of the DVLA (vehicle licensing authority in UK) is that a thief can find a pic of a bike he likes the look of, phones the DVLA telling them you had a hit'n'run accident but he managed to get your license number, and they will tell him the address the bike is registered to.
im not sure they still do this, i think the request has to come from an insurance company these days, but better safe than sorry

[SteveW]

So it's to protect the bike owner. In one case to stop nutters reporting you to the police and at no gain to themselves saying you have done something bad to them.
If fact, in maliciously reporting you they are very likely to be in big trouble themselves.
In another instance people may feed in your details into the police computer and find out where you live, that's hardly putting your name and address on the internet is it?

[Simon_100]

Hmm, I've always wondered about this too. I don't think there's such an issue here in spain, but on the other hand there is a law about taking/posting images f people's faces - it's taken really seriously - Googleearth fell foul of this bigtime!

Regs

Simon

[Richard Simpson]

FFS got any spare foil hats to hand out.

Problem with the Internet is hearsay and rumour becomes accepted as the truth, you are no more vulnerable IMO as my sign written van.

The police have to have reasonable grounds to seize your vehicle, if they could be bothered at all.

It wouldn't get to court as any lawyer would pull it apart without evidence.

Slightly over paranoid, I don't cover mine up, never have, never will.

It won't get to court for a lawyer to be able to pull it apart. The courts aren't involved. It's the policeman's opinion; you can prove him wrong but he can still say it's what he honestly believed so he's right.

Think about the poor old chap who was arrested as a terrorist at a Labour party conference a few years back for mumbling the word 'rubbish' under his breath when the then Home Sec was speaking.

Signwritten vehicles are very vulnerable to 'smash for cash' staged accidents. I wouldn't drive one without a Roadhawk or similar installed, and some insurers now insist on them. Towergate even pay for them.