Samuel Elliott Bowen (27), of Les Quennevais Park, St Brelade, used the alternative registration plate on a black Honda Civic in Sand Street car park.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that the offence was committed on 13 October, when Bowen also used the vehicle without a valid insurance disc.
Centenier David Webber said that the car was parked on the fourth floor of the car park and the new registration plate had been stuck over the real plate.
The court heard that a police officer was called to the car park because the registration number displayed belonged to a different type of vehicle. The plate had been detected on the multi-storey’s number-plate recognition camera.
As the officer was looking at the car, a member of the public approached him and said that a man had been acting suspiciously. The officer went to look and found Bowen on the fifth floor.
Advocate Lucy Marks, defending, said the Honda was fully insured at all times. She said that the offence had been ‘somewhat opportunistic’, as Bowen had found the other plates in a field.
Advocate Marks said that he was attempting to gain free parking by using them. She said that her client wanted to apologise ‘for an incredibly foolish act’ but that he had been struggling financially at the time.
