'RETIRED' tag leads to toll violation notices from across the country
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- Опубліковано 29 бер 2022
- (WSVN) - He has a license plate that is one of a kind in Florida, but then he found out many states issue that tag, and he is getting hit for running tolls in states he has never been to. When he didn’t pay, things got worse, which is why he asked Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser to take over.
Robert Reinhold likes the word “retired” and all that it means.
Robert Reinhold: “I lived a comfortable life, and here I am, trying to continue to live it.”
To celebrate his life of leisure, Robert wanted a tag that displayed his favorite word.
For years, he was told it’s not available. Then …
Robert Reinhold: “I finally got ‘RETIRED,’ because whoever had it must have died.”
But now that license plate has turned a nice retirement into a plateful of problems.
Robert Reinhold: “I received this thing in the mail saying that I ran a toll in New York City, and E-ZPass photographed my license plate.”
Certainly it’s a car going thru E-ZPass in New York with a Florida tag that says “RETIRED.” It’s a blurry picture, but it’s certainly not Robert’s car.
Robert Reinhold: “I have never driven it to New York. My car does not have six taillights. The car in the photograph has six taillights.”
Robert would then discover that while he had the only legal “RETIRED” tag in Florida, it’s not the only one in the U.S.
Robert Reinhold: “There are probably 48 states that have the same license plate.”
Robert then started getting violation notices from Colorado, Massachusetts and several other states where a vehicle with a “RETIRED” tag drove through the toll.
He contacted each state.
Robert Reinhold: “‘Hey, you got the wrong guy. If you look at the pictures, it’s obviously not my car.'”
Every state wiped out the tickets except New York, who ignored Robert and kept sending more toll violation notices.
And then…
Robert Reinhold: “Next thing I know, I get a letter from a collection agency, and instead of a $10.17 fine, it’s now $110.17.”
Robert was fuming and had enough.
Robert Reinhold: “I want to do something about it.”
Well, legally, Howard, what do you do if you get a bill for a violation that’s not yours?
Howard Finkelstein, 7News legal expert: “It’s important that you create a paper trail, so respond in writing or with an email notifying that billing state that it is not your vehicle and tag. On many of the violation notices, it will have a box to explain that it is not you. If they ignore you, like New York did to Robert, contact your state’s [Department of Motor Vehicles]. They can contact the other state to let them know that they have the wrong person.”
We contacted New York’s E-ZPass. We got nowhere with them.
We also spoke to the State of Florida’s DMV. They took care of Robert’s problem.
Robert Reinhold: “I will not be harassed anymore.”
Just what Robert asked us to do.
Robert Reinhold: “I couldn’t have called a better group than Help Me Howard.”
We think we figured out what’s going on. Look at this retired novelty plate we found online that’s also sold in stores. It’s the tag on the car from New York.
Compare it to Robert’s official Florida tag. The official tag has room for one more letter. Not the novelty plate, but states sending violation notices don’t know that or don’t care.
Robert Reinhold: “Now that I got it, it’s become nothing but a nuisance.”
But Robert won’t have to deal with that nuisance “RETIRED” license plate anymore.
Robert Reinhold: “I’m retiring the ‘RETIRED’ license plate.”
Retiring the “RETIRED” plate. I like that, and don’t try using a vanity plate to avoid tolls in Florida. If you get caught, you can be arrested and could be charged with a felony. Better to pay the dollar toll.
Got a plate full of problems? Don’t let it take a toll on you. Tag us, and let us chase it to see if we can retire the problem for you.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:
Email: helpmehoward@wsvn.com
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN
The guy who previously had the "Retired" plate didn't die, he was just sick of being harrassed about paying tolls, and gave up the plate!! 🤣🤣🤣
Thinking the same!!
👍 You know, you hit the nail on the head, I didn't think of it this way, but more then likely, you are correct.
Dammit, I just posted basically the same comment. 🤣
is that you
@Gary Allen No, this should encourage the states to put higher resolution cameras at their tolls so that they can get an actual REPUTABLE picture of the car in question and the tag, not that blurry nonsense.
Of course its new york🙄
you beat me to it
They hate us 😆
I live here I know coumo wasn’t just doing it to his co workers he was doing it to all of us and it hasn’t ended
Yes leave it to New York to always have the problems as a matter of fact they're also taking people from other states with those same letters and I have a funny feeling something needs to be done about it as soon as possible before any more people get hurt. Because I can tell you this much right now ever since New York started going to seven digits it's been a free fall ever since. But now I do believe that New York does have a problem and it seems that they don't care about people without a state license plates. They just want to go after people anyway they can just to get revenue. Well what happened in Florida with no joke I think what they did to that old man was not right in the first place they should have just left it alone and went after the right person for doing it but there are copycat people out there that want to copy license plates with the same lettering and just about every state. That's why something needs to be done about it. But, what I'd like to see is the banning of vanity license plates because vanity license plates do nothing more than offend people that includes blacks and other things. And in some cases they also use vulgar language. That's why they need to get rid of them and that's why every state that includes Washington State needs to start getting rid of vanity license plates. Because there are no sense and they're a threat to society they need to be replaced with regular license plates. And the same thing is happening out in California right now since they're already running out of seven digit plates. As a matter of fact California now has license plates to start with nine now because they've already gone through all the numbers one through eight as far as seven digits now they want to go through all the license plates that start with nine. And after they get through with those then they're going to do a 180 on them basically reversing the numbers and the letters just to get an idea just like you did back in the old days when they went for the old black and yellow three letter three number format to a three number three letter format but as soon as they get rid of the ones to have one digit three letters and three more numbers I'm going to go to some sort of a format called three digits three letters and then one more digit which is the last one that's how I'm going to start doing it they're already doing it now with trucks and everything all they are now is it used to be one digit one letter and five digits now it's 5 digits one letter and the last digit. That's how they're doing it now in california.
Should just push new york into the sea tbh
As someone who has lived in NYC, I can safely say dealing with the state of NY is a pain in the backside.
New York is the ultimate expression of Democrat policy -- there's no Republicans to get in the way. Democrats want to implement all of New York policies on the entire country. They can't stand the thought of each state doing things their own way.
@J H I would not completely agree with that. While I was there, my two trips to the DMV office were smooth & easy and people friendly.
@@lexluthermiester Im guessing you just had simple things done like license renewal,new photo etc.Other more complex issues are a nightmare to get done.Nobody knows what to do half the time.I wanted to change my cars color on the registration and it took over 2 months,3 visits and damn near a dozen phone calls.And thats not even that complicated to do.
@@BrooklynBalla Fair enough.
@@BrooklynBalla "You think you have problems, while listen to mine..."
Poor victim!!! 👶🎻
I had the same problem with NY sending me a toll fee. I ended up having to have the Attorney General of my state (NC) to intervene before NY dropped the collection notice. We shouldn't have to go to those lengths.
It's an industry there...they make millons a month jacking with people and fines.
What people have to do is find a way to make NY pay. It has to COST them, every time they do this to someone.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 GREAT IDEA but NOT sure how to implement it?
@@KB-ke3fi Just hoping that people will PAY instead of FIGHT!
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 Absolutely! Find a lawyer who will take the case on contingency; sue the offending state for $200,000 for false charges and harassment. Maybe that will get their attention. If I'm wrong, please comment to correct. Not joking, I'd like to know if my proposed solution is viable.
*Sue the state of NY for $100,000,000 and **_THEN_** they'll pay attention.*
You can only sue for damages, so $10.17 was the penalty (they do this because the court costs are higher than the fee, meaning nobody sues). The only way to get more is to class action but then you need proof for every single false violation.
@@jakegarrett8109 idk fear of stuff going to collection agency rally did a number in this guy.
@@jakegarrett8109 He had proof, every letter they sent and finally the collection agency.
@@cujoedaman Again, the law is dumb where you can only sue to be made whole. I agree, the government is mostly composed of idiots and lazy useless people, as well as exceptionally tedious and wasteful processes (while they still manage to lose all your important personal papers, and even sometimes hand you multiple times the WRONG PERSON's ID for base accesses, or activating security clearance tokens for the WRONG PEOPLE, or losing your fingerprints and other important info like SSN for the third time. Oh yeah, I'm just using examples that have happened to me and my 2 closest coworkers within the last 365 days).
I fully agree the government should consider people innocent until actually proven guilty, per its intended function. I also believe they should stop mishandling paperwork, because if they aren't competent enough to handle it, they shouldn't EVER have been allowed to have or request it in the first place! However, you can only sue for damages and no more, and only after they have harmed you (which I think you should be allowed to pre-emptively sue for imminent damages).
@@jakegarrett8109 1. No. 2. The fine is determined by the company that installs and maintains the cameras. 3. Not at all.
We just had a very similar problem here in Washington State where a guy applied for the license "UNKNOWN". He soon started getting parking tickets from a company that owns a bunch of parking garages around the state. Seems anytime they couldn't discern the plate, they just wrote "UNKNOWN" on the violation. The guy had 57 tickets, and he hadn't even RECIEVED his plates yet. The state solved the problem by making "UNKNOWN" an unavailable plate.
same thing when a computer programer got the plates that said null
@Sean Embry wait you want a competent Database programmer for what these companies pay? The other guy that got screwed over was one that had a plated that read noplate. Nut in fairness to the people,no one thought that some would actually get a plate that said that .
This happened so many times.... NOPLATE, NULL, VOID, and a bunch other. Sucks to be those people.
@@mattferrigno9750 and you would think DMVs would auto-reject these plates
@Sean Embry They actually will never make that mistake unless the software inserting info into the database is flawed. This has nothing to do with new programmers as they would never design a system this way. This is old systems designed by people that are likely dead by now. This problem can only happen in database systems susceptible to having SQL code entered into an input. i.e. "drop tables". Anyone still running a system like that is 100% responsible for this flaw. SQL injection is a security flaw. Most states will just ban these license plates when issues are found instead of fixing the security vulnerability. Perpetuating the flaw forever.
New York never stops disappointing everyone.
New York VOTERS never stop disappointing everyone.
Exactly why traffic cameras should not be allowed to be used to issue tickets.
Even if it is your vehicle and plate that's involved with any type of moving violation including speeding, running red lights etc and a picture of your vehicle is the only evidence they have besides the speed, the ticket will be thrown out at the court counter if you tell the clerk that you want to set a court date to contest the violation. The reason the clerk will throw the ticket out at the counter is there is no way a prosecutor could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was you that was driving, and the court knows it would just be a waste of their time.
@@Shadowman-1960that’s why most cameras now take a photo of the driver and the plate
@@l979corvette Doesn't matter. There is no way a prosecutor can prove that you were driving and the court knows this, which is why they dismiss the case if you request a trial date 100% of the time. If you don't believe me call the court and ask them.
@@Shadowman-1960 you obviously never been to California then cause that is not the case, yeah if the photo is blurry or blocked you’ll get out of it but if they can see your face you will get the ticket, ask me how I know
You should not have to prove your innocence.
Especially when they can't even figure out it isn't on the car linked to the tag.
The people that failed to do their due diligence should be fired.
Exactly. Way too much personal time taken away to fight something he didn’t do. Id lawyer up and sue NY for all of my troubles.
@Sean Embry My only argument to that is those novelty plates are exact duplicates of real plates. If a state is going to use an automatic camera/ticketing system, the system should be programmed to attempt to look for a fake plate. Also, the plate being on a different car doesn't exactly fit affirmative assertion. Wrong information on a ticket about the make/model will get you out of a traffic infraction most of the time if you plead not guilty.
@@James-vn8zb ... they are NOT identical. State issued plates are stamped out and these bogus plates have their numbers painted on flat metal. It's actually quite obvious to see in person.
It was all computerized and automated.
@@James-vn8zb Simple answer is a ban on fake plates, it's a real plate or nothing. Won't happen as people will complain about big government, so instead we get stupid. Most front ends aren't even designed to look good with a plate anymore.
Wait - so a public sector employee was lazy and didn' tdo their job!?! This is a ground breaking case. I am impressed as hell though that FL's DMV took care of the issue. I suddenly have respect for the government in FL.
that is because Fl is not Dem run
I don't know how DMVs are operated in New York but here in Missouri some DMV locations are owned and operated by private companies which are contracted with the State......you think government employees are worthless, you ain't seen nothing yet.
@@BackSeatJunkie all New york DMV workers are state employes
Wait easy pass is owned by which government? Sorry this is a private sector employee that’s too lazy and didn’t do their job.
A lot of government tasks are actually done by private corporations.
I’m sorry your knee-jerk government sucks private corporations are awesome theory didn’t work in this case.
@@BackSeatJunkie
Everyone knows the lowest bidder always does the highest quality work.
This is actually a persistent problem for many. This is why you can't just bill people with little evidence
This isn't America anymore.
@@peachesrambo4037You're right. it isnt America anymore. Book authors are facing first amendment violations in Florida, Texas, Utah, and other states, while West Virginia and Florida are enacting anti-LGBTQ+ laws that are on the verge of violating human rights.
Oh yea, the legal system treats people guilty until proven innocent also.
*New York DGAS.*
It shouldn't be hard to find out who owns a 60s impala... they would rather stick the old person with the bill rather than the actual violator who can clearly afford it.🤬
They did the exact same thing to me. I went to DMV and they said NYC lazily looked up the plate and while the current owner of the plate is listed in their database they insisted on charging me for the violation on a plate I hadn’t owned in over 20 years! The fine was $50 and it cost me $400 to hire an attorney to fight it, so far. Many would say “Just pay the fine and forget about it” but paying would also say that I was guilty and would affect my insurance. What an embarrassment NYC is!
Problems like this are going to grow in New York. The city is building overhead cameras & tolling systems in preparation for congestion pricing fees. There’s already an epidemic of fake and altered license plates.
NY is a POS
The people that set up those cameras are privately owned companies that give a small portion to the cities.
I was wondering what that was I drove under, there used to be a toll there, so now ur saying I will get something in the mail saying this is how much I owe?
Wait.. so you’re saying new york is going to start fining people for being stuck in traffic? Lol and I thought my state of California was bad..
Sounds like a dictatorship.
In all the states I've been through and paid tolls in NY is BY FAR the worst, most inconsiderate, impolite and down right rude toll workers to deal with. I'll never drive through NY again if I can avoid it.
Yeah, but they probably get nothing but hate and negativity from drivers every day
Is that not just New Yorkers in general? I don't even live in the US and I am aware of the reputation of New Yorkers.
Yeah they are all miserable. Alot of them are just down right nasty. They rip the stuff out your hand and have an attitude.
Having met many people from New York, they are the rudest nastiest bunch I ever had the displeasure of dealing with. Living in that miserable toilet would do that to anyone.
@Derp Derp takes you right across Wellesley Island and into Canada too
Thank you for investing in the care of the public...what an awesome station!
Poor guy😔! It’s awful to finally get something you’ve wanted for a long time, only to be disappointed or regretful. Maybe the previous owner of the plate didn’t die. Maybe they were harassed the same way & gave it up, too🤷🏽♀️. I’m so glad Howard was willing & able to help him get this resolved. Applause from Ca.
Up here in NY, you used to see a LOT of people driving around with a 'novelty plate' that looked like an official Florida plate, with the word "RETIRED" on it. I guess snowbirds liked putting it on the front bumper of their cars, sometimes along with the NY front plate, sometimes instead of the NY front plate. I used to see a lot of these on cars in Michigan, where they have no front plate. These "RETIRED" plates must've been sold by the thousands, and I'm surprised that FL actually let somebody use that word.
You can make any novelty plate you want though, I had some with my name on them as a kid. You can also stamp your own with 3d printed lettering real easy too, so unless you ban free speech you cannot ban them (and then also you could make a case for violation of free speech for personalized legal tags being banned).
I’m surprised NY allows you to have a novelty plate since they require tags in the front and back. They should change their plate laws so that they either have the one tag or where you can only have your legal plates on both the back and front.
The actual flaw is that these license plate scanners aren't validating that the plate is real. It is actually bullshit that they are allowed to operate without doing the work to profile real plates from all 50 states to ensure their detectors don't write tickets based on fake plates. The plate in the image doesn't match a real plate at all, yet here they are sending off fraudulent tickets demanding money from innocent people. The easiest fix is to arrest the owner of one of these companies to scare them into doing their jobs. The amount of plate variations is a finite number, they could put in a few months of work building in detection for fake plates. It is pretty much a one time effort, then minimal work adding new plate styles as states add some.
No one should be allowed to make and sell novelty plates that are a true-to-life facsimile of the genuine articles. Just as board games like Monopoly and Life can't include play money that replicates the real deal -- even if it was to include "not legal tender" on each bill. This is the State of Florida's fault for not suing that novelty plate company into the dirt. All states should do likewise. And regarding the novelty license plates that have been around for decades and many of us remember from our childhoods, those are tolerable because they are obviously smaller than the genuine article. They would look comical attached to a car or truck and no one would mistake one for the real deal. When I was a kid, mine (bearing my first name) adorned my bike.
@@mugwump242 I'm not sure what the problem of manufacturing them is, its just like selling realistic road signs for dorm walls (although, I'm pretty sure every single one I've seen in real life was just actual stolen road signs, and I've seen a LOT of them...), so I don't think we should ban the legal means to have free speech signs in your home.
Personally, on my car I might stamp my own plates and install a flag flipper so when my car is parked (stationary, so it doesn't need tags in a parking lot), they flip over to have offensive political mockery or similar (also known as free speech). There are many court rulings, and some even say you can modify your ACTUAL tags to remove things (such as if it says "in God we Trust", courts have ruled you can defile the word God and insert whatever you want, or even the state mottos). So, there is actually legal precedence for tags being protected free speech, even to the point of self-vandalism.
That's probably why the last person let it go !
Now he knows why the previous plate holder gave it up. One of New York's side hustle's.
Thank goodness for the news investigators that have the tenacity to help the regular hardworking ppl who don’t have the energy or resources to fight flawed systems, and corporate crooks.
I hope this man can finely enjoy his retirement in peace.
Finally
Providing he wears his seat belt!!
@Get into the wild with Jeff Rumas You think this guy wasnt enjoying his retirement because of toll tickets?
Make sure you send a bill to NY, for the time you spent addressing their problem, in retirement your time is precious, don't let the state rob you of that time.
Would help if his home state didn't issue a tag copied by the thousands nation-wide as a vanity piece. I bet a thousand tourist traps in FL sell that same tag.... wouldnt be shocked if I walked into my Ohio DMV and they have that for sale on the wall (as they sell stuff like that at our DMV here for some tacky reason)
@Gary Allen Where in the story did it say he was trying to collect money he hadn't paid ? , it doesn't, all he wanted was to stop being harrased by DMV. If he didn't take any action , eventually it would end up in court in a different state, then you have to travel there to plead your case , I suggest you watch the story again .
I had a similar situation. Two states didn't work together and a sheriff was involved that covered up for a major f up in his cops report. There was so much red tape in the way of the facts it wasn't me. It irritated me that probably 10 people getting paid more then me BY ME couldn't fix it including my own states representative. I ended up going to court and winning but didn't get compensated for lost pay or the headache. My license was suspended. Sickening!
Thanks for helping him out
Its almost feels as if everyone in New York doesn't care what the next person has to say.
We don’t.
Only certain parts of it.
How can you listen to anyone else with your head up your rear? You rush around like zombies and complain about everything in that death trap. And they wonder why nobody listens to them either. Nobody cares. 😭
@@arthurbb8937 only time I care about New York is when I hear sinatra or when I see them on Dick Clark’s Crack Rock Eve and the motha fuckas still haven’t burnt themselves down. City of Rats with Tap Shoes 👞
Where narcs are found
The last guy who had that plate didn't die as he assumed. He just got tired of it and gave up the plate. Everyone knows that vanity plates end up being nothing but trouble. A bumper sticker would work just as well.
@Paul Smith because its too easy to be targeted. Its much easier to "remember" a plate that says RETIRED on it than some random plate like GKL639. So people have revisionist memory and will "lie" and say yeah the car that ran over that kid and sped off had a license plate that said RETIRED on it instead of a bunch of random letters and numbers on it that you would never remember in a million years. Its a lot safer to not stand out or be memorable.
Vanity plates are all absurd and the practice should be ended. It won't be, though, because it generates revenue.
🤨Been to New York once and I will never go back.! 🤔
I was in charge of a volunteer first responder group that was discontinuing our service, and we got a bill from one of the toll agencies in our state, saying that we owed them money for a toll, not much….under $5.00. Where I live, we don’t have any toll roads for at least 200 miles, and I knew for a fact that the vehicle in question, which was an ambulance, had not been out of town, especially to where the toll was from. I took a better look at the plate in the picture and figured it was a totally different state, but the numbers matched. The computer didn’t recognize that it was from out of state, just that the numbers matched. I contacted the toll agency and talked to someone and told them to carefully look at the plate in the picture. They realized it was not us and stopped sending notices.
I can see where this could easily occur.
Thank You For Sharing 🇺🇲
It’s BS how any company can just send you a bill and then send it to collections without any proof
Welcome to Jewish capitalism. It's almost as if you can overthrow your corrupt government. Oh wait...
100% Agreed.
100% agreed, I have total shit credit because some at&t agent fucked up over 25 years ago on a 2 dollar bill lol they are now trying to collect 226 or something lol.
Ironically I think its helped my life enormously to opt out of the entire credit system. I think it helped me out A LOT too.
@@leathan7 Good credit helps with a lot of things. Try to just pay the bill.
@@marcilk7534 TLDR: Your totally right, but its not me :D
I was about to use a website that you pay 520 dollars to, and they use your money to pay themselves off or something like that and in 6 months they give you back 500 dollars and the credit is all fine. It really works... But after 25 years... I mean I've already bought a house flat up with crypto profit, and I've even found several very odd ways to take out loans in crypto. There were a lot more ideas in the pipeline too, so many so that I decided to leave my legacy credit bullshit the way it is and hope more crypto credit ideas take off. The legacy system seems super stupid for what Michael said, all the crypto ones have much much much better ways at establishing who pays and who doesn't imo.
You are guilty and you will be punished unless you spend alot of time, money, and aggravation proving you are innocent.
Well, it was only a civil infraction, not criminal - no such thing as "guilty".
@@Ebooger You gotta pay a fine - same as guilty.
Just call your local dmv and have them take care of it like they did. Quick, and easy. Shoulda just did that from the start. Im sure they could have cleared it up then and there.
@@JustMamba Just call? quick and easy? Please tell me where you live - I wanna be your neighbor.
_Alot_ is a town in India. _A lot_ is more than one of something.
Here is the thing, because a collections agency was involved, his credit rating took a hit. Things aren't okay just because they've agreed that they were wrong and to stop trying to collect.
now you have to contact all the credit agencies too
IF you challenge a credit hit, they have to remove it immediately while any action is pending and the original creditor has to have an uncontested conviction. They are not going to waste their time in court for a $50 parking ticket. And you can usually ignore collectors and tell the credit agencies that you dispute the claim and have any hit removed. Unless you are dealing with the original creditor (who has already written off the debt and cannot re-collect) you can tell a collector it is not you and to go pound sand. They pay pennies for collection records, so it is no sweat to the actual creditor.
Thanks, you just reminded me to renew my plates.
I just looked it up and using the wrong tags on your car is NOT a felony in most states... it's a second degree misdemeanor. That said, the obvious fix to the toll / fine is a copy of your registration and a picture of the plate on the correct car. True story time: there was a guy who got an automated speeding ticket with a photo of his plate. It was the right car and you'd think it would be hard to dispute.... EXCEPT... the car was on the back of a flatbed tow truck, which was also shown in the picture, but the plate was in the shadows. They naturally sent the ticket to the only plate they could read.
They are using image recognition to read the plate, how about automatic toll lanes also take a wider photo and use that Ai to also match it to the car it's attached to. If Ai can recognize text on a plate, it can be trained to determine make and model of a car. Then just match it to registration records.
Oh wait, states are not very good at communicating with each other.
@@peterbelanger4094 ... they already match the plate to records, which is how they know where to mail the fine / bill. What they don't do (it seems) is cross check for outstanding issues and proper information, like the correct car. One would presume that if computers can do facial recognition, they could tell a VW from a Chevy with some degree of reliability... and tell the difference between painted or embossed plate numbers.
Of course they did, gotta get that green from someone!
@@peterbelanger4094 Even in the same state they don't check, at least in NJ. I got a parking ticket for Camden because the parking maid mistyped a letter. The ticket said that the vehicle was a red Pontiac but they should know that a red Pontiac looks nothing like a dark grey Honda Odyssey.
If it's the same story, he wasn't charged for the car on the trailer. He was charged for the trailer itself, as with it he exceeded number of axles he paid for with his toll app.
If they don’t leave this poor man alone…he should be able to rest and relax in his retirement but now he’s gotta deal with this?? Smh
At least he is retired. Dealing with this and a full time job at the same time would be stressful as hell.
Thank you news stations.
just another reason why traffic cameras should be illegal. just pure harassment.
Happen to my dad many years ago. It all came down to a misreading of the plate. It took the local PD to call the NYPD to sort it all out.
A guy here in California had the plate "NO PLATE". Several parking tickets later.....
Reminds me of how Ireland was trying to figure out why someone named Prawo Jazdy had so many tickets. Turns out that's just polish for drivers licence and the ticketing officers didn't notice that wasn't a name
Bless his soul
A similar story. I left my Ford Ranger at a Pep Boys in Austin, TX, for $50 due to a cracked engine block. One of the workers replaced the engine but kept the license plate and made multiple toll violations and ran a red light that had a camera. It took a hundred hours of paperwork and phone calls to straighten the mess out.
2:09 what a man keeping the manuals alive 🙏🏻👏
Yessir!!!
its an auto
Yesss!!!
@@bnkh u dumb?
A manual transmission is the best theft deterrent
The previous owner didn’t die… he was getting those bills too.
Not only does he seem like a nice guy, he drives a Golf wagon with a manual transmission. God bless him!
Had a similar problem here in Queensland Australia.
Got tolls for a car with the same plate that was driven in Victoria, 1800km away.
That took me over a year to clear my name.
One thing I found common with most government agencies throughout the country: We the people cannot possibly do anything right, only they can, but they are really ill equipped due to it being Authority rather than Rationally and sensibly based, and then fail to get just about anything right, and leave it up to you to straighten out the mess they created, based on rules, regulations and laws they themselves have not upheld, because in their eyes it can only be your wrong doing.
I just cannot understand that government workers who do really great things for the people at large (No favoritism) don't climb up the ladder much faster, if they are not removed as a threat before we get to know them! In the long run, both Democrats and republicans (all others too) all want a system that caters to their agendas never realizing they are not supposed to set the agenda, but rather the people.
Don't go to hear what your politicians stand for, Ask them directly, and challenge them on the logic and rationality behind their thinking, and you will see that more than half of them are not only clueless, but not even bright enough to deal with the very basics of the subject they are wanting to make big decisions about!!!
We call it MICC - military industry Congress complex .
As Rush Limbaugh used to question, "Why believe the people who created the problem when they claim they can solve it."
E-ZPass is a private company paid by the states to collect the tolls. It is not a government agency. They are in the northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
@@briansloat3625 EZ Pass only administers the system of electronic tolling and collection. It is obligated to pass on allegations of fare beating to NYS government agencies who are the final arbiters of enforcement efforts. When court action is taken, it is by an NYS government agency in the name of NYS government. Thus, it is government action. To the extent EZPass is a private company, it is acting as agent for NYS government and thus performing a goverent function.
local, state and federal agencies hire based on DEI and not skill or competency
As a New Yorker, I knew that New York was going to be the only State that didn’t take off his tickets !! 🤦🏻♂️😂
Sue the crap out of NY!
Thanks Howard!
This is why I oppose toll roads and bridges generally. Modern toll collection technology frequently causes this sort of problem; British Columbia, Canada had some of these issues until a new government abolished tolls completely. People who lived in the province were being charged tolls for bridge crossings they never made because the camera detected an out-of-province plate that happened to have the same plate number.
I was in Vancouver a week or two after they cancelled the tolls. What was told on the radio was the collection of the tolls cost about 150% of the tolls value just to collect the tolls. Eg. $1 million in tolls cost $1.5 million to collect.
@@Kryten428 If that is the case, they need to find out who was embezzling the tolls. Automated systems don't cost much. Just my opinion. 😎
@@kf4293 You'd be amazed at how inefficient government institutions can be
Same with Ontario, their government is getting rid of the very few tolls that they had on a few of the highways
That's when you go to your local courthouse and turn in a trial by jury demand form.
Except you probably have to sue in New York.
@@TroyVan6654 Yep and either way they still get your money, and its no longer $10.17
@@TroyVan6654 Nope! See Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt (2003) [the 2019 case by the same name does not overturn the 2003 case but merely limits damages in a way that is particular to Nevada law]
@@TroyVan6654 Yes, but NY Civil Court juries tend to side with the injured party, and be generous with damages, when you can sue for damages (costs, etc.) And that's where being retired comes in. Time to pursue a lawsuit.
this is a prime example of how ignorant the DMV's accross the nation are. in the 21th century
Sue the city
I am a landscaper in Virginia and I have had the same problem with tags Mowing, Mowin, Plants, Planter, and Grazz. I received fourteen of them within a month of changing our fleet over to custom tags.
Don't forget GSU for Green Side Up😁
try YO-MAMA
Try 16Q PDE and quit wasting ur damn profit margin on crap that don't generate revenue
@@THRASHMETALFUNRIFFS I hope one day you're able to be happy again.
@@MaxLennon Why do portend to know m internal feelings, do you have some sort of magic internal feelings reading machine?
What I don't understand is with the ridiculously high cost to register your vehicle every year who in their right mind would want to pay these crooks even more of there hard earned money.
Exactly!!!!
Aiding and abetting criminals. A felony in most places.
I received one out of NYC as well. I took a picture of my car and sent it in with an explanation. It was dropped. Not sure why they didn't do the same with his. Glad it got cleared up.
I lost it when they said we contacted the New York DMV and got nowhere with them.
Similar story years ago a guy had a custom plate “no tags” and the computer system kept sending violations
One thing all government bureaucrats seem to have in common is a belief that when they screw up and do something that affects your life, it is your mistake to correct and deal with, not theirs.
Good job guys!
Anyone who has lived in South Florida for more than 20 years should be exempt from paying tolls. Especially the retired. We’ve paid for that wrote 100 times over. Yet in all those years, no one has ever been able to justify the amount of money they steal out of our pockets. No accounting has ever been done. No one knows where the money goes. All of South Florida is sick of it!
I've heard of issues with "null" and "void" plates before.
Seems like your clever plate can be very costly.
I came down here to make this exact comment. I read an article where someone had put "NULL" on their vanity plate, and wound up with literally *thousands* of tickets from all across the country. Insanity!
AA55 H0L
He should have ended it with a “I’m getting to old for this shit” lmao
Same thing happened to me. Took me a few calls to convince them to take a closer look at the province. I'm in Ontario and the toller was from Michigan
One thing the MTA is good at, that is making EVERYONE miserable. Even a poor old man from Florida who has never even been there.
New York keeps sending me notices for my PASSENGER CAR tag, because the number is shared with a Dodge pickup. Maryland too. I can't be the only one getting screwed like this, they don't know the difference between PC tags and TRUCK tags. Best thing? My car has been parked for over a year, with expired tags.
if you ignore NY's error, when you go to register a car, don't be surprised that you can't until you pay NY
@@tomservo5007 If my state will not allow me to register my vehicle, with photographic proof of New York New Jersey's Port Authority's error, I will be shocked. They send a letter with pictures of the violating vehicle, in this case it shows a Dodge pickup, with plates that clearly state TRUCK, in capital letters. I actually believe that the letter senders are a third party from Texas contracted to go after toll violators. Unfortunately, their employees are very poorly trained. I did get NY/NJ to vacate one ticket last summer, and a couple months later here came 2 more, along with one from Maryland with the same exact mistake. I also guess Maryland is using this same third party to collect. It's really ridiculous, I have never driven in any of those three states, and the photographic evidence they use clearly show that it is not my license plate, nor my vehicle. There must be a lot of these cases going on out there.
No they aren’t because “truck” and “pc” tags are the same and still have to be unique.
If the law requires you to do Anything to prove you're innocent Whether or not, but especially when the evidence is all right in front of them, that's called tyranny, not justice.
In South Carolina these violation letters are against the law and they not honored in state DMV . This also written in the state constitution courtesy of governor McMaster.
Considering the level of government bureaucracy, it's no surprise that New York is the one state that couldn't get it right!
There is no such thing as 'retirement': and this story proves it.
Just because you're not on some payroll does not mean life will suddenly give you a 'break' from problems, challenges and b. s.
As long as you live, you are still "in the game", and you will need to "play it" in some manner.
It's good to know that we matter at any age, and through our actions we continue to make a difference for the overall benefit of life.
And what brought on this meaningless rant? Is called retirement from your occupation, not life. 🙄
The problem is "There's too many chiefs and not enough Indians."
The left hand in government doesn't know what the right hand does and vice versa.
Dafuq u talking about wilis!
Pretty easy to tell what they’re saying. The government is too powerful for its own good. Time to throw some tea in the harbor
Um like omg, that’s cultural misappropriation.
same thing happened to my dad in long island my father is 75 hasn't rode a big cruiser motorcycle in years then gets a violation from a guy on a scooter then my father misses an appointment cause its online because hes old then the demands for payment started there was no process to fix it was told to just pay it , I called a lawyer they advised me to just pay it . I called suffolk county and they threatened to send police to my house to arrest me cause they were making me angry over the phone. NY is scum and the people who work for these institutions should resign its all corrupt.
then say they are going to put a warrant out for his arrest , I said go ahead hes 75 a vietnam vet I said do your worst , threatened me said he wont be able to register his car in new jersey , I told them to go screw , wanted me to drive 4 hours to go to court to rectify at which point they probably would have put him in jail , I detest NY I wouldn't go there if you paid me
NY government is garbage, man
This is why you don't get personalized plates.😡😡😡
This is similar to a problem in Ontario, where people who have never been in the area are charged for driving on Hwy 407, which is the only toll highway in the province. Likewise, they often have a problem getting the situation corrected. On the other hand, some people have been caught with modified plates to avoid the toll.
that 407 & 401 are horrible i drove thru there like a true Floridian... getting out of the rogers center to get onto the highway took me close to 2 hours lol... besides that lovely country nice people and great food
@@janelis156 The 401 through Toronto is the busiest stretch of highway on the continent and can be a tad slow at times. The 407 is an absolute disgrace with it's overpriced tolls keeping traffic away. That highway was owned by the province, but then the provincial Conservatives (Canadian equivalent of Repubs) sold it in a sweetheart deal that really hurt the taxpayers and drivers. I refuse to drive on it, if I can avoid it.
BTW, if you were leaving the Rogers Centre, you would have been on the Gardiner Expressway and possibly the Don Valley Parkway, depending on which way you went to the 401. The other way would have been via the 427.
@@James_Knott when i got out of the rogers center went under an over pass looks like a train station then to hang a left (where there's a trolley) then a right on the highway. I was staying in Mississauga... I was up there for about 3 days. You should've seen the faces when the residents seen my license plates 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@janelis156 Yeah, we haven't seen a lot of U.S. plates for the past couple of years. Depending on where you were in Mississauga, you would have gone Gardiner>QEW or Gardiner>427>401 (and possibly 403 or 410).
@@James_Knott yeah so i remember going on the qew because theres like a queens crown on the sign. I got so many tolls 3 months later i had like $40 in tolls. Im sure the Florida plates are truoy hard to find up there. I drove through ontario to Quebec and down vermont it was beautiful country. I preferred to drive it on the canadian side although the damn speed limit was like 120 kmp😭😭😭 i was doing flat 90 mph cruise control thankfully i didnt come accross a mounty😹
That is so good of him! I'm retired and drive so little now because I baby set three grand Daughters, lol. They are a hand full. But my heart goes out to him, what an ordeal. I want to mention here that any person can use a Form called "AFFIDAVIT OF SPECIFIC NEGATIVE AVERMENT". It is a legal form acceptable in all states. You write your demands in front of a Notary, the Notary Stamps, signs and dates the form, make a copy keeping the original, you send the copy to the person or company with their demands and they will never bother you again because they cannot in true faith prove that it was you driving the vehicle. I've used it three times and each were dropped for the same reason.
Just looked it up, never knew that , thank you for the info.
those puns at the end are fire
Even if it is your vehicle and plate that's involved with any type of moving violation including speeding, running red lights etc and a picture of your vehicle is the only evidence they have besides the speed, the ticket will be thrown out at the court counter if you tell the clerk that you want to set a court date to contest the violation. The reason the clerk will throw the ticket out at the counter is there is no way a prosecutor could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was you that was driving, and the court knows it would just be a waste of their time.
My husband was a victim of mistaken identity. He received a warning in the mail to pay a ticket, or be arrested. A man with same name was a long time criminal, nut in the county north of us. I called & told them their mistake & it was corrected.
My state sent me a notice that my car registration was incorrect..My vin number didn't match their info...For the past 12 year ..( I bought the car in 2009, got my personal plates in 2010 ) Ive been renewing my plate sticker online...at the beginning of this year I was sent a notice that my license would be suspended if I didn't correct the problem. I have 2 other cars I also renew online. The original vin number submitted by the local car dealer I bought it from...( switched plates from one car to this one for the first year) entered it incorrectly. It took the great state of Illinois 11 years to figure the original info was wrong. 11 years ..thats about right for Illinois ..and I have to solve the problem....
I live in Florida. I was driving around with what were effectively ghost tags because a lady at the dealership where my aunt got her new to her vehicle (used) from went into my aunt's DMV plate attachments (the DMV links plates to the owner's license ID number) and took the plate info that was linked to my car (still under my aunt's name at the time), changed it to a new plate and then attached it to the vehicle she just purchased.
When I found out that this happened my aunt and I had to go to the DMV and explain the situation. They then reissued a new plate for me and then proceeded to contact that dealership. The DMV ended up fining the dealership, the lady that did it AND the dealership fired the lady.
I'm just grateful that I didn't get pulled over......
i had a crazy issue from renewing my reg online. i once somehow paid for someone elses registration and didnt know until i was pulled over and accused of stealing someones stickers. when i confronted the dmv they said im better off just repaying. seemed crazy to me that an automated system that needed very specific information to renew my reg somehow ended up with me paying for someone elses reg.
@@godw1ll99 Yep .I got both of ours with in two weeks of doing it online... They are almost generic looking now. the last ones had our plate numbers on them...the new ones have only the number 23 on them for the year they are valid. till. We had a few stolen so I bought chrome plated metal license plate frames that have plastic covers under them and a special tool to remove the screws holding them to the the bumpers.
This article makes a great case to have the standard issue random letters and numbers for a license plate than a custom one.
I've always wanted custom plates until two days ago.........getting new plates tomorrow
At least he has the time to sort it all out. Congrats on retirement pal
Thank you so much for helping Robert! Honestly coming after our elderly for things that aren’t there’s is outrageous!
theirs
All he had to do was change it to Retired1 instead. Problem solved.
I had a problem with my license plate before in Florida also, but one call to the Florida DMV solved the issue.
"someone who had it must've died" LMFAOOO I love this guy's humor, he's still living life and I'm here for it
This story is a good example of the difference between NY and FL. FL gets things done and NY is a hot mess.
Honestly, I’m surprised this country just doesn’t adopt a more nationally systematized method for issuing anything. It seems like such a headache dealing with state by state idiosyncrasies
I received a similar letter from NY city for my tiny utility trailer plate. I have never been to NY city and my trailer definitely has not. I contacted my DMV and found out it was a scam. I ignored the letter and thankfully never heard anything again.
Lesson: Don’t piss away money on a vanity plate.
Haven't see this group since moving out of Florida over a decade ago. Everybody's aged. And to think I remember when they all joined the news broadcast.
Amazing as citizens we have to establish the burden of proof yet the state doesn’t ,simply showing a grainy picture of a completely different vehicle with a completely different plate is enough to go after the man even after he told them it wasn’t him. I live in NY I’m definitely not surprised this state is the worst.
Had this happen to me. Live in NY got a bill for another state. I knew it wasn't me because I've never been out of NY state!! I got on line and was able to see a picture of the plate they used. It wasn't even my plate number, who ever was typing in the tolls keyed in the wrong plate number. Of course I had to take more time and call them to get it removed.
I live in NSW, Australia and have a certain model bike. A friend in QLD had the same model and a plate that perfectly suits it and when I saw it, I applied for that plate in NSW and got it. I have a pic of our bikes side by side taken from the rear with the caption 'different states, same plates'. As far as toll notices go, my wife and I went to the UK in 2018 and rented a car for three weeks. On the second last day, we crossed a bridge or went through a tunnel (I forget which) that has a toll but the car didn't have a toll-thing on it so the toll company reads the plate, contacts the car's owner (the rental company) and they then tell the toll company who had the car at the time. All this takes a couple of weeks by which time we were back in Australia and because it'd taken so long, they attached a penalty of around ten times the toll. I wrote back telling them I was happy to pay the toll but not the penalty given it was the car's owner who'd stretched the process out past the pay-by date. They agreed and I paid the toll. You would think that a major rental company would have toll-things on their cars and simply add charge your credit card for any tolls when you return the car, but that'd be far too simple.
Howard Finkelstein looks like he's "RETIRED"! bro the creases on his face take the word "RETIRED" to a whole new level!
The thing with collection agencies is that you can ignore them and/or tell them to shove it right up their arses and they can’t do anything about it. My father went through a hard time and ended up in a hospital without insurance. He didn’t pay the bill and after about two years of constant harassment from collection agencies they just gave up completely.
Was going to comment this. Unless the fine is enforceable in a court of law, the collection agency has very little recourse beyond strongly worded letters or phone calls. Eventually, even a hundred dollar fine will be less than the cost of collecting and the agency will stop pursuing it. The agency is relying on the fact that most people get intimidated by the letters and pays it off--just in case they might get in "trouble". Many states do not enforce camera-generated fines and you can confidently ignore them until they go away.
Not true in Texas. There was a documentary/expose on a notorious law firm working as a collection agency and they'd play hardball (also unethical). I don't know if they were shut down or what.
Bye your fathers credit score, and any idiot that listens to this advice. To preface, I know it sucks America charges you for so much of your existence. Medical care should be free, but food isn't free, water isn't free and we sure as hell need those to live more than medical care. If you genuinely can't afford health insurance and end up requiring services, apply for financial assistance and start working it down on a plan, especially if you're young. Missed payments and bills gone to collection can effect your credit score by as much as 30%.
Thats when you contact a lawyer and have them send that state a cease and desist order
Shouldnt have to waste our precious time doing this BS. We should be allowed to charge the state an hourly rate to fix their mix ups.
Yes, hiring a lawyer for $450/hour to settle a $100 fine is worth it. They might actually win!
@@greenlawnfarm5827 some folks do it out of principle. That and they have the money to fight the outraged fight.
@@radolfkalis4041 I have money and paid the $18.00 fee for a toll road in Texas that I was never on. I didn't make my money being stubborn.
Paying the toll was the cheapest option.
I'm @ the top 5% income bracket.
@@TheBandit7613 all I was saying is some folks do.
Should have gotten a lawyer immediately
I expect no less than total harassment from New York.
Lmao “I guess whoever had it must’ve died”
Or got sick of fighting the toll violations....
Screw them! Who the hell pays a collection agency? Seriously once a third party (non government) agency has it. The situation is closed
And so is your credit score.
@@greenlawnfarm5827 These are not reported to credit agencies because credit agencies ignore them outright.
@@teejaybee8222 That is good.
I'm so happy I left NY for GA, I'm never going back truly hate that place.
Tickets from cameras are total bullshit anyway. The car doesn't break laws, the driver does.