Golden Ears Bridge tolls evaded with flip-up licence plate
A B.C. motorist who was allegedly using a pop-up licence plate to evade tolls on the Golden Ears Bridge was busted by the RCMP after an eagle-eyed officer spotted the canny deception.
According to Surrey RCMP, the officer who works for the criminal collision investigation team was crossing the bridge when he noticed a nearby car had no visible licence plate.
That was not surprising, since police are always on the lookout for uninsured vehicles, but what happened next was a shocker.
"The officer was very surprised when he saw a valid B.C. licence plate magically lift into place after they had passed the toll cameras," Cpl. Scotty Schumann said.
The officer quickly recorded the licence plate number and an investigation was launched.
Once the car was located, police staked it out, and one day last month they followed it across the bridge, once again allegedly observing the licence plate flip up into place after it passed the toll cameras.
The car was stopped and the driver was arrested. During a search of the car, police said a cable was found near the driver's seat that flipped the licence plate, which was mounted on a hinge, up and down.
Gregory Murray, 49, of Port Coquitlam, was charged with two counts of fraud under $5,000 and his 1993 Geo Metro was seized. Police are applying to have the car forfeited to the Crown as offence-related property.
"Thousands of people cross the bridge daily with the vast majority paying their tolls. This serves as a reminder to anyone actively trying to defeat the toll system that it is a criminal offence and that you could lose your vehicle and face charges," Schumann said.
