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Vanity Plate Causes Man To Get Over $19K in Parking Tickets

by Caleb Johnson on October 21, 2009 at 01:21 PM

While we don't quite understand it, many people like to add some personality to their cars by way of vanity plates. The plates usually read something corny like "2KOOL4U," "MYRIDE1," or, in one Alabama man's case, "XXXXXXX." That's because, when Scottie Roberson was a young man, he built custom cars under the pseudonym "Racer X," and because his favorite number is seven.

While this whole concept of vanity tags does puzzle us, these plates shouldn't be any problem. Except, in the nearby city of Birmingham where police, whenever they find an illegally parked car that doesn't have tags, write down seven Xs on the parking ticket. When those citations are entered into the computer system, Roberson's name -- of course -- pops up. According to The Birmingham News, Roberson has received more than $19,000 in parking tickets since last year. Sometimes, he says, he'll find as many as 10 tickets from 10 different places in his mailbox.

Roberson doesn't seem too concerned about the mix up. "One woman said not to worry about it because they didn't have the manpower to come arrest me," he said, referring to one of his numerous phone conversations with Birmingham officials. City spokeswoman April Odom told the News that the fines are being dismissed.

If this problem persists, maybe Roberson should just change the plates. Seems like there's a more obvious choice, like his actual nickname: "RACER X." [From: The Birmingham News]

Tags: car, driving, fine, funny, license plate, LicensePlate, police, tickets, top

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