Trucker's Number Plate Ruse Backfires

Thu, 02 September 2010 Courtesy of: Ananova

Traffic police in China were shocked to pull over a lorry fitted with a device to hide the number plate to avoid speeding tickets.

The driver had invented a 'number plate controlling system' which - at the press of a button rotated the plate to face the ground.

Whenever he saw a speeding check point, he would hit the button to hide his number plate, reports the Chutian Metropolis News.

Police officer Wu Kan told how he was on patrol in Hanyang, central China's Hubei Province, when he saw the lorry pass at speed.

He couldn't see the number plate so radioed ahead to colleagues to pull over the lorry at the next traffic junction.

The driver, Gong, admitted that he had invested the equivalent of hundreds of pounds in his invention which was confiscated by police.

Fining his £20, officer Wu commented: "It was really a clever idea, but he put his smartness in the wrong place."