EXCLUSIVE: A Sydney motorist has shared her anguish after her number plates were stolen and used to rack up thousands in fines and more than a dozen demerit points against her name.
Homebush resident Emily McKay had her number plates stolen overnight on October 23.
She reported the crime to NSW Police the following day, on October 24, and told Service NSW on the 28th of October with the required police incident number.
“I parked my car on Wednesday night at 10pm, when I went to my car the next morning I noticed the plates were different,” McKay told 9News.com.au.
“I had black and white ones and they switched them for other black and white ones.”
She thought after that the ordeal would be over, but it had only just begun.
McKay started receiving fine after fine, all issued after she had reported the plates as stolen to both police and Service NSW.
The fines included four separate offences worth $334 each, a $145 fine and a whopping $2959 speeding ticket.
The largest speeding fine was issued on October 31st for an offence that took place on October 26th – three days after reporting her plates as stolen to Service NSW.
She was also been hit with 17 demerit points in total.
”I was so stressed when the plates were gone, and now I’m stressed checking the mail everyday in case there are more fines,” she said.
“I dread it … I don’t want to open the mailbox and see another one.”
She says she’s been seriously inconvenienced by the ordeal, having to manually dispute each fine with Service NSW.
On top of that, each dispute can take up to 42 days to resolve.
“They have drop-down options of why you are disputing the fine, none of them had anything to with plates being stolen, or the car being stolen,” McKay said.
“I had to click other and write why I was disputing it every time.
“This is so stressful, I’m poor! If this is going to take them more than a month to sort this then am I just going keep getting fines in the mail?”
The offences took place across Sydney, including in Burwood, Croydon, Petersham, Haberfield and Parramatta Road.
“They didn’t think it was weird that I had reported the plates stolen, [the fines] are in a different area and I haven’t had a speeding ticket in three years … then I get five in five days.”
The car that was photographed with her stolen plates is a white Hyundai i30.
McKay also has a white i30, however, she says hers is a different model with an STR badge on the back of the car to identify it.
“When they are issuing fines they need to look at the car model, they have that in the registration,” she said.
“Even I can obviously see the difference and I don’t know anything about cars.
Service NSW contacted McKay and said they would waive the fines only after 9News.com.au informed them of the situation.
McKay said the delayed reaction wasn’t good enough and called for a change to the fine-issuing system.
“The [fines] that were issued after I went to [Service NSW]… it shouldn’t happen, especially in this automated system it should be in there that I didn’t have the plates on those days.”
“It’s not okay … so many people must go through this.”
Revenue NSW told 9News.com.au that a fine would be waived in these circumstances.
“If an individual has had their plates stolen, they should notify Revenue NSW immediately to ensure fines are not misattributed to them,” it said.
“Individuals who are issued a fine from the result of a stolen licence plate, these penalties will be withdrawn by Revenue NSW during the review stage.
“Individuals who have received a fine issued to a vehicle using their stolen licence plates are encouraged to contact Revenue NSW on 1300 138 118 to seek a review.”
