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The number plate doesn't seem to conform to any European country style, the only two countries whose plates comprise two alpha groups followed by a numeric group are Germany and Montenegro* and in both cases the second alpha group comprises two letters, not one. The style of the letters and numbers suggest that the plate was actually made in an Eastern European country, they are certainly not Germanic.

 

* and there isn't a DO area code in Montenegro anyway.

 

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Off topic reply , sorry.

 

Cotswolds aren’t  west of Swindon, try north 
 

my daughter tells me the urban dictionary of Swindon is “ the only place you can buy cocaine from a 5 year old”. Most of it is not quite that bad , and the chances of being stabbed is a little lower than London 

 

 

CE1F1CC9-BF58-4CA2-87A6-5371E3BD4E22.png

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2 minutes ago, rob D2 said:

Off topic reply , sorry.

 

Cotswolds aren’t  west of Swindon, try north 
 

my daughter tells me the urban dictionary of Swindon is “ the only place you can buy cocaine from a 5 year old”. Most of it is not quite that bad , and the chances of being stabbed is a little lower than London 

 

 

CE1F1CC9-BF58-4CA2-87A6-5371E3BD4E22.png

The southern end of the Cotswolds start at Bath, and that's certainly west of Swindon.

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1 hour ago, bécasse said:

The number plate doesn't seem to conform to any European country style, the only two countries whose plates comprise two alpha groups followed by a numeric group are Germany and Montenegro* and in both cases the second alpha group comprises two letters, not one.

Explanation of German plate from a German manufacturer.

germany-license-plate-english-infographi

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Just a thought, have those involved re contacted their local police to inform them that these thieves have targeted multiple shops in different areas ? Maybe even pointing them to this thread for reference ? They may then share the information across multiple forces and coordinate a response.  It may up their interest level if they are aware of multiple crimes

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I do hope that some police force, somewhere is making use of all this information. Whilst each individual theft may not be the highest priority, the cumulative losses must be starting to ramp up and the culprits appear to quite brazen in persisting with their strategy.

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On ‎11‎/‎03‎/‎2020 at 08:33, Widnes Model Centre said:

To be totally honest, our biggest shoplifters tend to be well over the age of retirement. Exhibitions are the biggest cause of losses with large crowds milling around stalls.

 

On a slightly lighter note, a few years ago we had a fairly large radio controlled boat stolen. The following morning while studying the cctv system, I had the face of the offender on screen, looked up and there he was looking through the shop window. I was still giggling when he got a free ride to the local Police station. Never recovered the boat though.

 

One of the traders (selling milling cutters, files, drills etc.) at Ally Pally Model Engineering Exhibition said that the amount he lost to retired folk was unbelievable, with the Midlands M.E. Exhibiton being the worst.  They get the right 'ump when he makes them give the goods back, apparently..

As for the boat - small claims & debt recovery?

 

On ‎11‎/‎03‎/‎2020 at 13:39, maico said:

They must be spending a fair amount on fuel visting model shops unless they are stealing that too...

If they try do sell in their home country they may be in for a shock, I doubt there is much interest in OO?

 

Overseas (and false?) plates, so fill up and run maybe?  The police won't bother...

 

 

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Our daughter very recently had her number plates stolen from her car one night. Reported it to the police as soon as she realised the theft. The  police contacted her a couple of days later to inform her that they had spotted the car several times on the ANPR cameras and were building up a "picture" (no pun intended) of the times of day/routes taken by the "other" car (still been driven around the local area) ready for an arrest.

 

Presumably the police have the foreign number plate under surveillance, unless the tea-leaf's are more organised and have other number plates/vehicles to use.

Edited by iands
Sorry, forgot to add the last paragraph before I hit "send".
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The Police, generally, have been pretty good and we've had a couple of people arrested and convicted of shoplifting.

One chap is paying off a Hornby HST at about £3 every six months...

 

Cambridgeshire constabulary have said to encourage any other victims to contact them directly with their crime numbers and any details.

Our crime reference can be used as a link:  CR-35/16600/20

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Some years ago when I was selling off my "N" gauge collection I had a sale in my home,  advertised in the local paper (before this internet became fashionable).  Many people attended and not one item went missing attributed to them.  However,  some days later while at a friend's house there running on his layout was a loco that went "missing" during the sale.  

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18 hours ago, iands said:

Our daughter very recently had her number plates stolen from her car one night. Reported it to the police as soon as she realised the theft. The  police contacted her a couple of days later to inform her that they had spotted the car several times on the ANPR cameras and were building up a "picture" (no pun intended) of the times of day/routes taken by the "other" car (still been driven around the local area) ready for an arrest.

 

Presumably the police have the foreign number plate under surveillance, unless the tea-leaf's are more organised and have other number plates/vehicles to use.

they take plates theft seriously as it facilitates much more serious crimes. Catch a plate thief and generally you've got someone for more serious things. 

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On 12/03/2020 at 10:29, bécasse said:

The number plate doesn't seem to conform to any European country style, the only two countries whose plates comprise two alpha groups followed by a numeric group are Germany and Montenegro* and in both cases the second alpha group comprises two letters, not one. The style of the letters and numbers suggest that the plate was actually made in an Eastern European country, they are certainly not Germanic.

 

* and there isn't a DO area code in Montenegro anyway.

 

T00732.JPG.5e57a094534e1fde7ce3a9175ab3bf28.JPGP00082.JPG.98c48b70be3fda46a459a619ae468a80.JPG

 

Quick look on the internet and it appears some older German plates did have a single letter in the second group. Its highly likely its a false plate anyway!

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Yes, there are older and newer style registrations in many countries. If I had to guess, I'd say the one in question was from Eastern Europe, possibly somewhere like Romania, but without  being able to see the country identifier it is hard to say - as the map above shows, its possible for more than one country to have the same style, hence why GB (etc) plates or logos are needed. I'm sure there was a case a few years back of someone here being sent a speeding fine, the registration of the speeding car was something like ABC 123. It turned out that whilst he did indeed own a car registered ABC 123, as you might guess from the very old style of registration number, it was something very much historic, and was also still under restoration in his garage. The actual speeder was a Belgian car also registered ABC 123*

 

(*New Belgian registrations are now in the format 1-ABC-123)

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Germany#/media/File:Kfz-Kennzeichen_in_Deutschland.svg

 

DO is listed on this map for German numbers plates and its in the area of Dortmund. Took a while to find, but look to the area half way up the map, and across to the left and you will see it. 

 

I should have been an Interpol officer!!

 

Lets hope they catch these folks before they profit any more from their devious exploits.

 

Ian

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38 minutes ago, ianLMS said:

Quick look on the internet and it appears some older German plates did have a single letter in the second group

The graphic I posted on the previous page shows the modern German plate. 

After the EU flag it can have 1,2 or 3 letters at the start, then come the official state and inspection discs followed by one or two letters and 1,2,3 or 4 numbers. The maximum number of characters is 8.

The use of the hyphen was discontinued in 1994.

Edited by TheSignalEngineer
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