DC driver's "no tags" vanity plate leads to $20,000 in tickets

Usually when someone regrets getting a vanity plate it's because they picked a stupid pun or dated pop culture reference. But one driver's attempt at license plate levity has him regretting his decision to the tune of $20,000 in parking tickets that aren't even his.

For 25 years, the Washington, D.C., resident has been driving around with a vanity plate that reads "NO TAGS," which has brought the occasional smile to people who appreciate the gag.

But recently he began getting citations in the mail for hundreds of dollars, all for vehicles that aren't his. The reason? When some police write a ticket for a vehicle with a missing license plate, it gets entered into the system as "NO TAGS," and the computer spits out a ticket to the unfortunate driver.

"I've got enough tickets here to plaster my whole car," He tells NBC Washington.

Sick of having to trudge down to the DMV to sort out these tickets, he called up the TV station who got bounced around from department to department until the director of the DMV said she would issue instructions to no longer use "NO TAGS" when writing a ticket but to use part of the vehicle's VIN and to identify the state as "XX."

Hopefully that will solve the man's problem, but why doesn't he just get new tags that aren't as confusing?

He says he's been asked that by people at the DMV and he asks back, "'Are you going to buy me new tags?' They say, 'No.' I say, 'There's no need for me to buy tags I already have.' If you pay for it, I'll change them. If not, fix the computer."

(Published by The Consumerist - February 17, 2012)