Ontario driver caught using fake license plates made from diaper box

Today in strange hijinks involving Ontario licence plates, we have an unidentified driver who thought they could actually sub in a literal cardboard box for stamped aluminum.

And it wasn't just any cardboard box either, but one that was originally sold full of Pampers Swaddlers disposable diapers, cut into licence plate-sized rectangles and then covered with printed paper.

We know this thanks to the Ontario Provincial Police's West Region Twitter account, which shared a photo of the fake licence plates this week, noting that officers had found them on a car pulled over in Brant, Ontario.

"Brant officers stopped a vehicle and found these fake plates made from a cardboard diaper box," revealed the @OPP_WR Twitter account on Monday. "The driver realized his error and that it was time to 'change' things up!"

Har har. 

This "stinks"

— Norm Tuckwell (@NormTuckwell) January 11, 2021

Police didn't specify how long the fake plates had been in use, but judging by their smeared ink and general filthiness... the diaper box dupes had been rained on at least once.

Under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, a driver can be fined $85 each for operating a motor vehicle with no plates, without two plates, with improperly displayed plates, without a validation sticker, with an improperly displayed validation sticker, with an obstructed plate and even a dirty plate.

The OPP has not revealed which if any charges the driver of the diaper plates will face, though there are several offences that would apply in this situation that don't have set fines, such as "alter plate," "deface plate" and "use defaced plate."

And apparently this isn't as rare an occurence as you might assume it is.

I’m seeing this more and more often on our roads; at least a couple times a month.
Some are actually pretty well done, and look genuine until you get super close. pic.twitter.com/tLZGWLenRk

— 𝖀𝖓𝖈𝖑𝖊 𝕱𝖗𝖔𝖘𝖙 (@TopShottaDrivah) January 11, 2021

"I know of a vehicle that has had plate made out of vinyl for at least 10 years and never been caught even though many cops have seen it but didn't realize because it's so good," wrote one Twitter user in the diaper plates thread.

"A lot of people are pouring paint remover on their plates to erase numbers and letters so they can't be identified," noted another.

"My neighbors were using one set of plates on three cars, never got caught," yet another Ontario resident complained. "I had to use my plates to drive to DMV once! Got pulled over, the officer as a major B!.. She ruined my life because of two minutes. Smh."

Indeed, licence plate fraud has been making more headlines in recent months as well, though this could simply be due to police Twitter accounts sharing more interesting busts.