Owner of 'offensive' number plates makes shocking new claim
Transport for NSW authorities have demanded the man explain how the plates have apparently 'gone missing' days after making front page news.
A driver who made headlines last week after he was ordered to return his “offensive” custom number plates now claims they have gone missing.
The plates, which read OCT7TH and appear to reference the date Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel, drew swift backlash after the car was spotted in western Sydney.
The owner of the white Ford Ranger ute was ordered to immediately hand them over or face losing his registration. However, he has now reportedly filed legal paperwork claiming the plates have been lost, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Roads Minister John Graham has demanded the driver submit a statutory declaration explaining how they went missing by February 26.
"An instruction to surrender offensive licence plates is not a negotiation. In fact, it’s black and white – we expect these plates to be returned," Minister for Roads John Graham told Yahoo News on Thursday.
"In a tiny fraction of cases licence plates can go missing but we are very keen to understand how these particular plates were lost less than 48 hours after making front page news for their message of intolerance and division.
"Let me spell it out: If they are in your possession, give them back. They remain the property of Transport for NSW. The NSW Government has zero tolerance for hate speech. We are not going to tolerate hatred and intolerance being spread in the community."
Yahoo understands anyone who makes a false written declaration to state government officials can be fined $22,000 or face up to two years in prison.
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Truth behind second set of number plates
Yesterday, Yahoo News revealed the truth behind another set of number plates that were believed to reference pro Nazi sentiment.
The plates, seen in Melbourne, read “88-SS”, outraging members of the Jewish community who feared the 88 referenced the code used among neo-Nazis for “Heil Hitler” and the SS referred to Schutzstaffel, the guard of the Nazi regime within the Third Reich.
However, Michael Hooper, Chief Operations Officer at VicRoads, told Yahoo the plates actually refer to the driver’s birth year and initials and did not have antisemitic sentiments, and he confirmed the number plates would not be recalled.
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