True Story...
We received a traffic ticket in the mail from a town outside of Atlanta ( about 100 miles north of here. The ticket was accompanied by a photo of a backside of a car (and the license plate) going through a red lite.
The ticket was written against my daughters car (at the time) A White 98 Saturn SC2 coupe, that was with my daughter in Orlando Florida, some 5-1/2 hours south of here. The description of the car in on the ticket, obviously take from the registration info stored on the state's computer.
The picture, however clearly shows a new Black Honda Odyssey minivan, and a blurred license plate.
I contacted the jurisdiction in which the ticket generated. I spoke to the traffic clerk who was able to pull up the ticket, and the picture on her computer WHILE she was on the phone with me.
I explained that:
1. The description of the vehicle on the ticket is a White, 1998 Saturn coupe
2. The Photo is a Black Honda Minivan
3. The license plate in the photo is too blurry to read.
4. The car, and the license plate that they are Claiming the ticket represents is in Florida, and has been there for three months.
The clerk is looking at the dependencies and says to me, "Have yo u notified the state that you have moved the license plate from the car to the van"?
The photo that accompanies the ticket has a date and time stamp on it, and the location of the camera. My daughter (who works at one of the major theme parks in Orlando) contacted the security office at the theme park, and they were able to supply here with a photograph of her, her car, and it's license plate, with a date and time stamp on it showing her car entering the employee parking lot ( with a clear view of the license plate) just 28 minutes before the ticket for the car was generated some 6-1/2 hours away.
When I called the clerk back, I was told to bring that photo to court with me.
I asked why I would even need to go to court, with it, I could email the pic from From Florida to her. She told me there was noting she could do.
Three weeks later I went to court, the judge looked at the two photos and dismissed the case.
I later sent them an invoice for my mileage and my time. Four and a half hours, and 215 miles at 0.555¢ per mile. The invoice was for $411.83.
Of course they didn't pay it. Instead I received a letter from the municipal attorney stating that they aren't liable for such errors.