This Homemade License Plate Didn’t Work, Surprisingly
The regional police said in a tweet laced with sarcasm: “Could you have spotted this uncanny forgery?”
Just outside of Toronto in the Ontario province, a creative Canadian tried to get away with tacking a hand-drawn license plate to his car. However, the plot was foiled when he was caught by the York Regional Police at a R.I.D.E. (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) program checkpoint.
The 49-year-old was apparently breaking his curfew, which was a condition of his release as related to a previous crime of some sort. According to CityNews in Toronto, the driver with questionable artistic talent was charged with failing to comply with a court order, possession of property obtained by crime, driving without a license, and using a plate not authorized for the vehicle to which it was attached. Homemade plates are not considered authorized. Who knew?
If I were the officer in charge, I'd add the crime of uneven lettering, failure to center the words, and not properly tracing his pen lines with a light blue marker. Maybe the judge can get him some art classes as part of his community service. One has to wonder what he was thinking: "Yeah, this will work. There's no way they're going to spot this fake plate!" In Texas, the apparent hotbed of illegal temp tags, at least they attempt to make theirs look legit.
Fortunately, the Canadian man wasn't out drinking and driving that night, so overall, these infractions are on the low-impact side. And the police seemed to have a sense of humor about it all, poking a little fun at the perpetrator.
“The good news? He wasn’t impaired,” said the police via Twitter. “The better news? This artistic masterpiece was ours to discover. It was on the front of his car, painstakingly crafted to match the stolen plate on the rear.”
Then they followed up with a cheeky challenge: "Could you have spotted this uncanny forgery?"
I get the feeling they had a good laugh about it at the police station.
Got a tip? Comment here or drop a line to kristin.shaw@thedrive.com.
