Ontario Porsche driver caught with drop-down licence plate cover

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A Porsche Panamera driver in Ontario is being taken to task by police after being caught using a plate-concealing device.  The Milton District Response Unit pulled the black Panamera 4S over when it drove by without a plate on display. Upon closer inspection, officers discovered that there was a plate, but that it was hidden behind an illegal device that rolled down to provide cover at the push of a button by the driver. 

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“The vehicle was missing its front licence plate,” Constable Christopher Mccullough said in an interview with CTV News Toronto. “As the Porsche passed the police vehicle… we saw the rear plate was missing. Well, we thought it was missing at the time.”

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“The Milton District Response Unit stopped what they thought was a un-plated vehicle tonight,” a Tweet about the incident reads. “Investigation revealed that the driver had a licence plate concealing device. The driver was charged. The licence plate could be concealed by pressing a button from the driver’s seat!”

The Ontario Highway Act makes it clear that obstructing your license plate is a crime. And clearly it’s one that the OPP takes seriously. With a covered license plate, cameras on the roadways – like ones used at red lights, or entering and exiting toll highways, like the 407 ETR – are unable to do their job.

It might seem like the driver got off pretty lightly with just a pair of $110 tickets, one for the obstructed plate and one for appearing to not have a licence plate, but there may be additional charges if police can prove they were using the blocker to avoid tolls.