Why would someone photograph a licence plate?

[Angusdog]

My wife was walking back to her car and saw a guy with a cellphone taking a photo of her numberplate. He walked off before she could ask him about it. The car is rare-ish but not exotic, not a classic and not what I would consider a car desirable to car thieves.

Why? And why do they blur out number plates on the telly, when you could see those plates in real life? Is this something I should be concerned about, or is he probably into the same sorts of cars as my wife's?

[Warr]

Have you changed the ownership on a vehicle recently.
Its about as hard as handing over $10 .. or is it $9.
Perhaps they have evil intent... perhaps not

[Steam]

They can find out where the car is registered, and come round and steal it.

But alternatively, one of my artistic friends used to be obsessed with plates beginning with LZ, and collected hundreds of pictures of LZ's, and we all joined in too. She framed them and put them on the wall, must have been a hundred different cars beginning with LZ at least.
Here's what they said when we found one for her: "Thanks!! Oooh, a three digit, thats rare!!! Did you get a picture of the whole car? we like pictures with the whole car. But thank you for that none the less. they are scarce in wellington region, it is a commendable effort to have found one!"
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/113/275965560_1c7f9124e1_m.jpg

[sunhuntin]

something like $2 at a postshop will give you the details of the owner... including, i think, address. plates are blurred so people cant track the rich and famous, or ID the car as a wealthy/important persons and cause damage [like many of us would like to do to uncle helens, or transits boss.]

[Luckylegs]

A "traffic nazi" from http://snapt.co.nz perhaps....

[candor]

Well a thief would just write it down. They do it at airports then get your address and rob you. This sounds a weird one.

[Big Dave]

The police have taken mine a few times. Notice usually come in the mail with a polite request for $80 or thereabouts.

[Dave Lobster]

I always take photos of cars parked next to me in carparks. Esp if it looks like a bag of shit. That way, if there's a dent in my car when I get back to it, I've got a fighting chance of knowing who did it.

[El Dopa]

A local nutter is currently spambombing people at our work (among many others). He thinks we are helping implant tracking and torture devices under his skin while he's asleep. Peter Jackson is behind it all, apparently.

Anyway, since I know people like this exist, and while they may be demented, they ain't stupid (this guy can quite obviously use the internet more than competantly), I tend to try to keep the amount of my personal details that are readily available publicly to a minimum.

[homer]

They can find out where the car is registered, and come round and steal it.

But alternatively, one of my artistic friends used to be obsessed with plates beginning with LZ, and collected hundreds of pictures of LZ's, and we all joined in too. She framed them and put them on the wall, must have been a hundred different cars beginning with LZ at least.
Here's what they said when we found one for her: "Thanks!! Oooh, a three digit, thats rare!!! Did you get a picture of the whole car? we like pictures with the whole car. But thank you for that none the less. they are scarce in wellington region, it is a commendable effort to have found one!"
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/113/275965560_1c7f9124e1_m.jpg

Actually if there still all about there should be 999 in total

[Steam]

Actually if there still all about there should be 999 in total
Yes, but the 4 number ones are so much more common... there are 9999 of them, so its comparatively rare

[sunhuntin]

i like foreign plates, but wouldnt photograph them. generally i blur them before posting online [need to do the burt ones though] and try and avoid getting them in the shot. i will take a photo of the rego card so i can be sure to get the year right when doing titles. that generally doesnt get posted either.

[McJim]

I like the system in the UK. The only people who can look up ownership of a number plate are the Police. No one else.

[McJim]

My wife was walking back to her car and saw a guy with a cellphone taking a photo of her numberplate. He walked off before she could ask him about it. The car is rare-ish but not exotic, not a classic and not what I would consider a car desirable to car thieves.

Why? And why do they blur out number plates on the telly, when you could see those plates in real life? Is this something I should be concerned about, or is he probably into the same sorts of cars as my wife's?

Did your wife get a photo of this twerp?

[disenfranchised]

A friend of mine plays a game with his girl, where they try and keep beating each other to have seen the newest number plate.

Phone photo would be for proof.

New car is it??

[R6_kid]

They can find out where the car is registered, and come round and steal it.

But alternatively, one of my artistic friends used to be obsessed with plates beginning with LZ, and collected hundreds of pictures of LZ's, and we all joined in too. She framed them and put them on the wall, must have been a hundred different cars beginning with LZ at least.
Here's what they said when we found one for her: "Thanks!! Oooh, a three digit, thats rare!!! Did you get a picture of the whole car? we like pictures with the whole car. But thank you for that none the less. they are scarce in wellington region, it is a commendable effort to have found one!"
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/113/275965560_1c7f9124e1_m.jpg


HEH! And here i was thinking you were a bit wierd!

[AllanB]

Probably trying to find out where you wife lives so he can do weird things with baby oil, fried chicken and a latex glove :shit:

Or possibly LZR924 spells 'penis' in another language :shutup:

Must be a joke here somewhere about him accidentally rear-ending her :sick:

Sorry, its late :yawn:

[Will]

I always take photos of cars parked next to me in carparks. Esp if it looks like a bag of shit. That way, if there's a dent in my car when I get back to it, I've got a fighting chance of knowing who did it.


:2thumbsup Same here. Especially if they are parked funny:crazy:

[ambler]

Yes, but the 4 number ones are so much more common... there are 9999 of them, so its comparatively rare

actually 9000 i think

[Sanx]

actually 9000 i think

Ah, another pedant. I was going to post that too. And for the record, there'd only be 900 three digit ones.

[klingon]

My wife was walking back to her car and saw a guy with a cellphone taking a photo of her numberplate. He walked off before she could ask him about it. The car is rare-ish but not exotic, not a classic and not what I would consider a car desirable to car thieves.

Why? And why do they blur out number plates on the telly, when you could see those plates in real life? Is this something I should be concerned about, or is he probably into the same sorts of cars as my wife's?

Hmm. I find that a bit creepy. It may be completely innocent, but there's no way of knowing. He could use the number to trace the car - and then of course he could trace your wife.

My sister and I were followed recently (in her car) and it has made me a little more cautious and aware of who is around me. Without being paranoid, I would suggest your wife keeps a general lookout for this guy in case she sees him hanging around.

[Usarka]

If you have a camera on your cell phone take a photo of them.....

[Usarka]

If you have a camera on your cell phone take a photo of them.....

I often follow people in the car just to make them paranoid..... :whistle:

[Angusdog]

This is the car in question. It now has very cool mags (12" so they won't fit anything apart from a Mini) and flares, but not exactly a boy racer or classic car. I must admit, every day, my wife gets compliments on her car and it is a hoot to drive.

[jonbuoy]

something like $2 at a postshop will give you the details of the owner... including, i think, address. plates are blurred so people cant track the rich and famous, or ID the car as a wealthy/important persons and cause damage [like many of us would like to do to uncle helens, or transits boss.]

Its ridiculously easy here to trace people through their numberplates.

[Finn]

Its ridiculously easy here to trace people through their numberplates.

That's why my vehicles are registered to a P.O. Box number in a company name. Even the police have trouble sending me tickets.

Catch me if you can.

[jrandom]

That's why my vehicles are registered to a P.O. Box number in a company name.

Wot the dwarf said.

:yes:

[Steam]

actually 9000 i think


Ah, another pedant. I was going to post that too. And for the record, there'd only be 900 three digit ones.

What?!?! The universe spins beneath my feet! Everything I knew is wrong!
Wouldn't it start at
LZ000,
LZ001,
LZ002,
.... to LZ999

That's 999, right?

[Winter]

I take photos of cars parked next to me, incase my car is dented while im away shopping.

I've been known to take photos of plates of cars acting suspect,

And if I were to make a complaint about somebodys parking (theyd have to be blocking my driveway or something terrible) I'd take a photo of the plate and the whole car.

Plenty of legit reasons, I wouldn't worry too much.
OTOH, Get a pobox, and put that as the address for the vehicles.
I know your not allowed to do it, but it can be done and does protect your cars that little bit more.

[xwhatsit]

When I was attending secondary school, went out with some friends to a coffee shop. This was Queensland; they have funny number plates over there, and personalised ones must either fit to the normal scheme (i.e. three numbers then three letters) or you pay ridiculous amounts of money for a completely personal one, and then it's still subject to many restrictions. That's why we were very amused when we saw a Saab parked with the number plate `1MAO' or somesuch (lmao)... damn geeks... took photos with camera phone and pissed off.

Perhaps your number plate is very amusing to a geek for some reason :)

Also, it is an interesting car. I know it's not super-exotic, but neither are CB250RSs, and I've taken a couple of photos of particularly modified 250RSs (including the number plate), because that's my thing. Perhaps his thing is Mini estate wagons.

[007XX]

What?!?! The universe spins beneath my feet! Everything I knew is wrong!
Wouldn't it start at
LZ000,
LZ001,
LZ002,
.... to LZ999

That's 999, right?

Errr, nope 1000 if you include LZ000 as an actual plate...I've never seen one with letters and then just knots though...

[jrandom]

Wouldn't it start at
LZ000,
LZ001,
LZ002,
.... to LZ999

That's 999, right?

NZ numberplates, for whatever reason, are not printed with leading zeroes in the numeric portion. This is something I noticed years ago. I, er... tend to notice these things.

Therefore, each letter combination will be followed by one, two or three (or four) numerals, with the first one of those numerals never being zero.

In other words, registration plates would have been printed in series under LZ as:

LZ1 - LZ9
LZ10 - LZ99
LZ100 - LZ999 (the 900 plates of which Sanx speaks)
LZ1000 - LZ9999

[007XX]

In other words, registration plates would have been printed in series under LZ as:


Thought so...thanks for the confirmation...:niceone:

[jrandom]

knots

'Noughts'.

Today's advisory message was brought to you by the Enforcement Division of the BDOTGNZA. Merry Christmas!

[007XX]

'Noughts'.

Today's advisory message was brought to you by the Enforcement Division of the BDOTGNZA. Merry Christmas!

Eeerrr, yes, I did have my doubts while writing it...

I suppose calling you pedantique would send the BDOTGNZA in a spin, would it? :lol:

[jrandom]

pedantique

It is the BDOTGNZA's position that using 'que' where a 'c' will do perfectly well constitutes unjustifiable frippery.

[007XX]

It is the BDOTGNZA's position that using 'que' where a 'c' will do perfectly well constitutes unjustifiable frippery.

No my dear, it would be a french adaptation adding elegance and style to an otherwise bland terminology describing the overly zealous approach of some to the menial task of grammatical exactitude observed ad nauseam...

:innocent:

*One feels it best for one to go and hide now, as Master Hitcher is bound to be just around the corner...*

[jrandom]

my dear

Don't patronise me, sunshine.


a french adaptation adding elegance and style...

Frippery!

<img src="http://cache.jalopnik.com/cars/images/werner_klemperer.jpg"/>

[007XX]

Don't patronise me, sunshine.

No, you're right...that would be way too easy, not to mention justified...:rolleyes:


Frippery.

Pedantry.

[pzkpfw]

Pedantry.

Leave the kids out of it.

[jrandom]

Pedantry.

I'm a quephobe.

<img src="http://www.artsnotdead.com/photos/s2-gayfrenchlife-2.jpg"/>

[007XX]

I'm a quephobe.



Que? Said the spanish inquisitor...

And yes, we french people have been often referred to as "thrilling rides"...Thanks for perpetuating that myth for us! :D

But man, can we put on a show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_DY6SGDhmo