The fine was issued to the owner, but another person was driving

Reconciliation of credentials.

Check the credentials for which the fine was issued:

car number and registration certificate number - if the fine was issued by automatic means of recording violations
driver's license number - if the fine was issued by a traffic police officer.

How to check.

On many websites this information is indicated along with the fine. For example, on our website, this information looks like this:

If there is no such information on your website, you can always double-check the information about the fine on our website. To do this, you need to use the search for fines by resolution number

What to do if the specified data does not belong to me or my car.

Most likely, you made a mistake when you entered data on the site for the first time, based on the experience of our service, 99% of all such cases occur because of this. In the remaining cases, there may be a problem on the site or another reason.

What to do:

Check on the website what car or driver information you have provided and if you have provided incorrect information, correct it or write to the site administration.

The fine itself can be hidden, since it is not your fine.

What to do first?

If you have received fines from cameras for a double's car, then first of all you must wait to receive the official decision by mail. After all, today you can view fines on the Internet - on the traffic police website or on the State Services portal. However, you need to understand that these systems sometimes work with malfunctions - for example, on the State Services portal there is often an error when someone else’s fines or debts are displayed to a person. Therefore, there is no need to rush: if you see a fine on the Internet, then wait until you receive a notification by mail - it is quite possible that the police will sort everything out themselves and you will not have to pay other people’s fines for duplicate cars.

More on the topic: What awaits the driver for using special signals on a car: fines and deprivation of rights

If the decision does arrive, then you need to appeal it. However, there is no need to rush here either: if you come to the traffic police and start saying, cancel the fine, since my car did not violate the traffic rules, then with a high degree of probability they simply will not believe you (the traffic police here can also be understood - what if you just want avoid responsibility). Remember that to the police you will have to prove your innocence with objective facts:

If the look-alike car is completely similar to your car, then be sure to take a photo of your car. Don’t save money - make a high-quality printout and highlight the main differences (for example, a different brand of car, there are characteristic scratches, different rims on the wheels, and so on).
You can also prepare a written alibi that will confirm your innocence. For example, on the day of the offense, your car was in a repair shop and therefore it is obvious that you could not use it - visit this workshop and ask the master to write a report stating that your car was under repair on that day.

What to do, if:

photographs and reality clearly do not match.
It is impossible to identify license plates from photographs
the speed recorded by the camera exceeds the technical capabilities of the vehicle.
in the area where the violation was recorded, no prohibitory sign was installed or its effect ended before the place where the car was filmed
the car owner was not driving at the time of the violation
for one violation, filmed by one camera, several orders were issued

In such cases, you need to appeal the fine. Details about the appeal process are described here. How to appeal a traffic police fine. https://www.driver-helper.ru/shtrafy-gibdd/appeal

If there is no photo?

If there is no photograph of the violation, and this sometimes happens, you have 2 options:

All registration data of the car are the same, in the place and time when the violation was committed, you were and violated - you can pay the fine, the absence of a photo is not a reason not to pay the fine.
If you don’t remember whether you were at the place of the violation or are not sure that you violated the traffic rules, you need to apply to the traffic police department or another structure that issued the fine with a request to provide photographic materials confirming the fact that you violated the traffic rules. The name of the department is always indicated in the fine details.

Other people's fines are coming: the traffic police explained what to do

Photo: facebook.com/elena.alpeyeva

“In my complaints, I asked the police to give me information if they catch him, so that I would file a lawsuit. They didn’t catch him, I don’t think,” the motorist complained. — And fines are probably issued automatically based on license plate numbers. There are probably millions of these regulations, so no one checks the make and model. This person used fake numbers matching mine only occasionally, about once every six months for a few days. He could run into someone, get into an accident and hide - and they would never find him, because no one knows his real license plate number. And whoever turns out to be guilty in this case depends on your luck. Now it’s unclear whether he will use my numbers again, or whether the hype around this case scared him off, but I didn’t receive any new fines after the publication.”

What to do if someone else receives fines

An Autonews.ru correspondent sent inquiries regarding the current situation to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. They did not answer when to expect the launch of the special system for fixing duplicate cars promised by the traffic police. Instead, the request was forwarded to the Moscow Ministry of Internal Affairs. The department said that it could not comment on a specific case due to the protection of personal data and did not explain why it was not possible to catch the violator. But the police explained in detail what to do for drivers who find themselves in a similar situation.

“If facts of unlawful use of state registration plates are identified, citizens must submit a statement to any division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, including the division of the State Traffic Inspectorate,” advised the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow.

News May 21, 2021 The traffic police will begin to find duplicate cars using cameras

How to April 24, 2021 What to do if you bought a double car

As the department explained, copying car license plates falls under the definition of Part 4 of Article 12.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses - “Driving a vehicle with knowingly forged state registration plates.” This entails deprivation of the right to drive vehicles for a period of six months to one year.

“If a decision is made against a person in a case of an administrative offense on the basis of photographic materials on which a vehicle with false state registration plates is recorded, it should be appealed in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 30 of the Code of Administrative Offenses with the body that erroneously issued the decision,” the police clarified .

As for the discrepancies between license plates and car brands, the police advised that this issue should be addressed to the data center. “The primary check of photographic materials from crime recording complexes operating in automatic mode is carried out by employees of the State Public Institution Data Center of Traffic Control, whose responsibilities include checking the compliance of the state registration plates of the vehicle with its make and model. After the initial check, the photographic materials are transferred to the State Traffic Inspectorate of the city of Moscow, whose employees, after checking the grounds, make a decision on the case of an administrative offense or make a decision to reject the photographic material,” the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow clarified.

If the numbers are mixed up

If you were given a fine because the numbers were mixed up, then in this case the solution to the problem will be trivial:

Select the authority to which you will file a complaint. This can be either the traffic police authority that made the decision to impose a fine, or the district administrative court. The address of the traffic police authority is indicated on the back of the resolution - you can easily find out the court address using the Internet
Write a complaint statement. This document is written in free form, but in the header of the document you must indicate the body to which you are submitting the application - the traffic police or the court. After writing the header, you need to indicate the number of the resolution, state the circumstances of your case and indicate the reason why you do not agree with the decision of the traffic police officers. The reason may be the following information: complete unreadability of the license plates, an error in the license plate in the photo, the presence of objective circumstances due to which the possibility of your fault is excluded (for example, the car was being repaired). At the end of the application, be sure to refer to Article 30.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
Deliver the complaint in person or send it by mail. After this, visit the traffic police/court and submit a complaint (don’t forget to take your passport and car license with you, you don’t need to take a copy of the decision with you). An alternative option is to send it by registered mail with notification of delivery via mail (send also a copy of your passport and driver's license + don't forget to keep the postal receipt).
Get a solution to your complaint. After considering the application, the court/traffic police must make a decision on your case. You must be notified of the decision by mail - if successful, the fine will be successfully canceled.

More on the topic: Unpaid traffic police fines and traveling abroad

You are given 10 days from the date of receipt of the decision to appeal the fine - so don’t hesitate. When sending a letter by mail, time is counted from the moment of sending (and not from the moment of actual receipt of the letter by the traffic police or in court).

I received a fine from a duplicate car - what should I do?

What to do if fines come to a duplicate car, which has exactly the same license plates? In this case, you need to act in two directions at once - you need to appeal the imposition of fines + it is recommended to change your numbers so that a similar situation does not happen again. Why are both actions so important? Let's figure it out:

If you appeal the fine, but do not change your numbers, the situation may repeat. After establishing the fact of the presence of a car double, the traffic police must open a case to find the attacker. In most cases, the police do initiate a criminal case, but in reality it is not always possible to catch the attacker on time.
If you simply change your numbers (without appeal), then the fine will still be yours, since from the point of view of the law, you are the offender. And sooner or later this fine will have to be paid.

Method number 1: appeal

The only possible way to cancel someone else's fine that a duplicate car received is to file a complaint with the simultaneous opening of a criminal case regarding the fact of illegal assignment of license plates. If you have outstanding fines for real offenses, then before submitting the application (the best option is before receiving a notice by mail), you must pay off all debts. Therefore, before visiting the traffic police, it is recommended to check your car for fines. This can be done, for example, through the official website of the traffic police using the STS number or by submitting an application to the traffic police for outstanding fines.

More on the topic: Changed license, old insurance number - what is the fine and risks?

After checking, make a copy of the resolution, passport, PTS and STS - and now you can start appealing:

Write a statement about the theft of numbers in free form. A statement is written and submitted to the police or to the traffic police department that issued you a fine (that is, the option of going to court is excluded). The text of the application must state the circumstances of your case. You also need to demand that the fines be cancelled, and that a criminal case be initiated regarding the theft of the license plate.
After this, you need to collect all the necessary documents in addition to the application - passport, copy of the resolution, STS and PTS. If you have any documents confirming your case (written statements from other people confirming your alibi, photographs of your real car, and so on), then you must also take them with you.
You come to the police station or traffic police department and hand over your application and documents. In exchange, you must receive a special coupon, from which you must make a copy. After receiving a copy, write another complaint statement in which you demand that the fine be cancelled. This document is filled out in the same way - a heading is written, then the essence of the case is briefly stated + the request to cancel the fine is entered. This document can only be submitted to the traffic police department - in this case, when submitting the application, you must submit a copy of the coupon received earlier.
If successful, the fine will be lifted and you will receive a notification letter at home. Please note that if the criminal who falsified the license plates is caught, you may be summoned to court as a witness.