Appeal for witnesses after VW Golf crash in Wrexham
The driver was hospitalised with serious, but not life-threatening injuries.
Officers are particularly interested in speaking to a woman who was overtaken by the Golf just before the incident.
Other potential witnesses, including those with dashcam or front door footage, are urged to contact police via live web chat or by phoning 101, quoting reference number C106644.
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Daily Mirror
8 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
'BMW and VW drivers warned about rise in car cloning - I fell victim'
It can happen to anyone without warning More than 50,000 UK drivers have fallen victim to car cloning, with fresh data revealing a 41% rise in cases over the past five years – and car experts are now warning the crisis is spiralling. If you don't know what car cloning is, let me explain. I can do this because it happened to me. Back in 2020, I put my 2001 VW Golf GTI up for sale on Facebook. It wasn't an expensive car, to be honest I can't recall how much I stuck it up for, but it was definitely less than a grand. I did the usual thing, wrote a description, took some pictures and posted it. As a news reporter of quite some years, I'd never understood why people would get annoyed if the website or newspaper I was working for posted or printed a picture that included car registration numbers. On any given day, your car reg is likely seen by dozens of people while you're driving around, after all. But after what happened five years ago, I suddenly got it. Now, it was five years ago and I may be misremembering the sequence of events a little, but this is the gist of it. I'm not sure if I received the first fine before or after I put the car up for sale, as I'd probably posted a pic or two of the car on Facebook at some point before. Anyway, I do recall that it ruined my Saturday morning. In the post came a letter addressed to me. When I opened it, some colourful language emerged from my mouth when I discovered I was being accused of having used the Dartford Crossing between Kent and Essex without paying. This was daft for two reasons - one, I live in Cornwall and hadn't been anywhere near the place. Second, at the time, I believe the charge was something like £2.50 - hardly something worth risking a fine for. I studied the accompanying image. Pictured was indeed a silver VW Golf, bearing the same number plate. But on closer inspection there were a few subtle differences. The wheels, for one, were different to the alloys on my car. There were also a few things like the bumpers having black trim, whereas mine had the same as the rest of the car - silver. I'd never heard of this practice of car cloning - but a quick search online enlightened me. Clearly some unsavoury people like to search online for a car and then whack cloned plates on a very similar one and drive around merrily doing whatever naughty things they want to do - such as evading £2.50 tolls - to their heart's content. Some might even physically steal your actual number plates and then do the same thing. Online info also suggested I needed to do two things - contact the police and then the toll-issuing authority. I did just that and, much to my surprise, the police call handler was entirely familiar with the situation. They took my details, noted the visual differences between my car and the car that had been caught, and made a note on my car's file. This meant that if police caught a car with my registration driving along outside of Cornwall, where it was registered to me, it would be flagged up on the Police National Computer and it would be pulled over. The driver would then need to provide proof of ownership - something I could easily do. The helpful police call handler then advised me to tell the toll-issuing authority that I'd contacted police and it'd be confirmed that the plates had been cloned. I did that and the fine was cancelled. All good. But then it happened again. This time, I had a letter through the post telling me my silver Golf had been parking in Luton somewhere without paying and I had a fine to settle. I repeated the process and the fine was again cancelled. In the end, the inconvenience to me was fairly minimal, if annoying all the same. I went on to sell the car and - guess what - not long afterwards, the new owner contacted me to say he was getting fines through the post. I told him what he needed to do to sort it. However, things could have been more serious. Valuation specialists at a car-buying platform, say the crime is not only damaging innocent motorists' finances and reputations, but also undermining trust in vehicle ownership systems. "Car cloning is fast becoming one of the most distressing issues facing ordinary drivers," a spokesperson at explained. "We've seen cases where people selling their car are suddenly dealing with unexpected fines or insurance disputes, all because someone else illegally copied their number plate." Criminals typically use cloned plates to commit further crimes – including stealing fuel from petrol stations, evading tolls, or even fleeing accident scenes. Victims are often left in the dark until they receive fines or letters from police, many of whom have no idea their vehicle details have been compromised. "We urge the DVLA to review how number plates are distributed and tracked," the spokesperson continued. "Currently, even though sellers must check ID and logbook details, enforcement is patchy, and rogue suppliers are slipping through the cracks." Owners of BMWs, VWs and Mercedes warned also warned that cloning disproportionately affects drivers who own high-demand cars such as German makes or premium SUVs, which are frequently cloned by criminals looking to avoid detection. "We'd advise drivers of popular models like the BMW 3 Series, VW Golf, or Mercedes GLA to be especially cautious," the expert said. "These are among the most commonly cloned vehicles because they're everywhere – and that makes it easier for a cloned version to blend in." When buying or selling a car, the experts said it was crucial to check for anything that seems off – including mismatched documents, suspicious plate bolts, or unusual recent traffic fines. They said: "If you're thinking about selling your car, make sure everything matches up – especially your logbook and registration history. If we ever suspect something during a valuation, we'll always raise it with the customer – and we recommend people do their own due diligence too." How to prevent your car from being cloned The company also recommends that drivers take simple preventative steps, such as: Reporting any lost or stolen number plates immediately Using anti-theft number plate screws Regularly checking their vehicle record on the DVLA website Keeping a log of any unusual fines or driving correspondence The expert said: "The worst part is how quickly this issue can snowball. One cloned plate can lead to police letters, insurance claims, even blacklisting from fuel stations – all to someone who's done nothing wrong." As the number of incidents continues to rise, the team at is urging policymakers to crack down on illegal plate providers and work toward a more secure, digital identification system for UK vehicles: "Until the system changes, vigilance is the only real protection drivers have. We need to see tougher consequences for dodgy plate sellers and a modernised approach to car identity. Innocent motorists shouldn't be paying the price for criminal loopholes."
Leader Live
10 hours ago
- Leader Live
Appeal for witnesses after VW Golf crash in Wrexham
The collision, involving a silver VW Golf, occurred on Moss Road's junction with Moss Hill at 8.20pm on Monday, July 14. The driver was hospitalised with serious, but not life-threatening injuries. Officers are particularly interested in speaking to a woman who was overtaken by the Golf just before the incident. Other potential witnesses, including those with dashcam or front door footage, are urged to contact police via live web chat or by phoning 101, quoting reference number C106644.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
Meet the reformed biker and convict playing at the Open
In the few days Ryan Peake has already been in town, Royal Portrush has been everything that he expected. 'Tremendous, unbelievable,' the Australian said here on Sunday. 'It's every pro golfer's dream to play in the Open and make their debut at a venue like this. I guess, it's just that my journey has been different to the rest.' Indeed, the particular route the 32-year-old has taken to this Dunluce Links course made headlines around the globe in March when he qualified by winning the New Zealand Open. 'After five years in prison, ex-gang member qualifies for British major' was the gist of them and so Peake suddenly became big news. 'I knew I would [be big news] because this won't ever happen again, will it?' he said. 'A bikie who did time, playing in an Open… It's a one-off and I expect attention. That's no problem. But it would be great to be known for my golf.' If that is a big ask – and considering he was convicted for at least two counts of GBH, it certainly is at least that – then Cam Smith, the former world No 1 who won this championship three years ago, believes his long-time friend has the talent and the wherewithal. When Peake was a teenager he was rated as the nation's prodigy alongside Smith and the pair duly played in the same Australian junior teams. They also roomed together on those trips. 'He was definitely always one of the best juniors,' Smith said last week. 'He obviously just got involved in some stuff that he probably wishes he hadn't. But he was always one of the best and had one of the best mentalities on the course. He was a really aggressive player, but if it didn't work out, nothing really bothered him. It's good to see him where he should be.' A decade ago the Perth man was somewhere as far away from dreamland as can be imagined. He was serving time in Hakea Prison, an institution that one review criticised thus: 'The cells are small, unhygienic, and overcrowded, with reports of pest infestations and inadequate sanitation.' Another labelled the maximum security jail in Perth as 'cruel and humiliating'. 'Hakea' was named after a local genus of beautiful flora, but inmates say the only thing they saw bloom was inhumanity. The prison has specialist management units known as 'punishment units', which have been described by the state regulator as 'outdated and not fit for purpose' because of the intense psychological damage inflicted as well as the inability of guards to monitor. Peake was ashamed and would not allow his mother to visit, but his father, Mel, a bricklayer turned greenkeeper, insisted. Fortunately Peake had friendly company, as there were also members of the Rebels inside, the infamous outlaw motorcycle club he officially joined when he was 21 and already a struggling pro. Peake's mental health was a mess and there had been addictions. The mini-Tours can be a desperately lonely climb and fraternity often exists only for the successful who can skip along together to the big show. 'My life had fallen into depression, I lost all self-esteem, I didn't know who I was, lost all direction in my life,' Peake told Golf Digest recently, in an extraordinary profile. 'Where I was at that stage in my life, it [the Rebels membership] was the only thing that brought me comfort. I felt like I belonged.' There are rules and conditions in every club and although Peake has returned to the environs where they are can be wonderfully petty, gloriously irrelevant and hard to comprehend, in the Rebels they could be deadly serious. 'What happened … I can't say it was just one night, one mistake,' Peake said. 'It was years of build-up.' Golf Digest expands on one night where, seemingly in self-defence, Peake assaulted a member of a rival gang who was preparing to attack. But another report detailed Peake being part of a six-man group laying into a defenceless individual. The fact is the crimes had built up and the half-decade prison sentence had to be fulfilled. Sport, like gangs, remember their own and through his stretch, he received messages from peers. Yet when Ritchie Smith, his former coach who has guided Minjee Lee to major glory and her brother, Min Woo, to PGA Tour success, informed him that golf was still his path back to the straight and narrow and not an electrician apprenticeship, Peake blessedly took heed. He was released in 2019, when Portrush last hosted the Open and so much of his life seems circular it could be scripted. However, the lead character himself, does not wish to be a role model or a 'celebrity' who has achieved their fame the wrong way. He does not want to forget his past and cannot begin to, and he knows that with a DP World Tour membership secured for next year – courtesy of finishing second in the Australasian Tour Order of Merit – he will have visa issues. But for now, with his British passport – 'don't ask me exactly where my dad comes from, because I can't remember, but it's somewhere in England,' he told me – there was no problem this time and he has his fantasy shot at the Claret Jug. And as they tend to, the Aussies are wagoning around this affable left-hander, standing at 6ft 4in and covered in tattoos. On Sunday, Peake played with Lee, and Cam Smith is also ready to link up again with his old hombre for a practice round and a waltz down memory fairway. 'I can't wait to see him at Portrush,' Smith said. 'Growing up with him, I knew the good fella in him. He was always really nice to me, always really funny and a laugh to be around. Hopefully he plays well, and although I'm sure that him simply being there would be good enough, I know he'll want to play well. And Peaky can really play.'
