Mark Segraves, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – A personalized license plate has turned into a bureaucratic nightmare for one local man who says he’s racked up $20,000 in erroneous parking tickets.
Danny White drives a red Chevrolet Avalanche decked out with Redskins banners and a vanity license plate that reads, “NO TAGS.”
The District’s Department of Motor Vehicles issued the tags years ago, White says, and soon after he started getting the tickets.
“I’ve got enough tickets here to plaster my whole car.” White tells NBC 4’s I-Team reporter Tisha Thompson, who was first to report on White’s dilemma.
The problem, according to D.C. DMV Director Lucinda Babers, is that when police or other ticket-writers in the city issue a citation to a car, or even a motorcycle, that doesn’t have any license plates, the officer writes down “NO TAGS” instead of the plate number. DMV computers then assign those tickets to White’s vehicle.
White tells Channel 4 he’s received so many tickets he has to make monthly trips to the DMV to get them excused.
“It had to be $20,000 in tickets,” White said.”Over $20,000.”
DMV records show 19 tickets have been issued to White’s NO TAGS license plate since 2002, Babers says, totaling $2,850, including late fees.
Babers says she has advised the District agencies that issue parking tickets, such as the Metropolitan Police Department and the Department of Public works, to discontinue the practice of writing “NO TAGS” on tickets and instead write the last 6 digits of the vehicles VIN number to avoid the problem in the future.
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(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
