This Hamilton man's car was marked as 'wrecked' and taken at police stop. How mistake happened is a mystery

Members of a Hamilton family are looking for accountability — and their money back — after their vehicle was listed as being sent to a scrap yard, resulting in a police stop, the temporary loss of their vehicle and nearly $5,000 in fees.

"Everyone keeps saying, 'We don't know what happened. We can't tell you what happened,'" Gerben Vanden Heuvel told CBC Hamilton.

"We don't even know a simple answer of who [made] the mistake yet, which is super frustrating that no one is wanting or willing to fess up."

Vanden Heuvel's odyssey of detective work, documentation, emails and affidavits began around 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 23.

The Stoney Creek resident said he was driving to work when a police officer pulled him over and told him, according to information tied to his licence plate, he was not the registered owner of his Toyota SUV and the vehicle was listed as wrecked.

Vanden Heuvel said this confused him because he leased the car in 2018, purchased it from his dealership in 2021 and had been driving it since. He said he showed the officer his ownership papers, but the officer explained the vehicle was registered to a local business called Mike's Auto Parts & Scrap Cars, and told him to get out. 

The police had Vanden Heuvel's car towed, charged him with using a plate not authorized for a vehicle and gave him a court summons. CBC Hamilton has viewed a copy of that ticket. 

Hamilton police spokesperson Krista-Lee Ernst confirmed the incident occurred, saying the officer had checked Vanden Heuvel's plate with an automated reader and found it marked "unattached."

When the officer checked the plate and vehicle identification number (VIN) in the Police Automated Registration Information System, they found it was registered to someone else, prompting the ticket. 

This is the proper protocol, Ernst said, adding that generally, anyone looking to have their vehicle, plate or licence record processed should go to a Service Ontario office. She said information entered there is transmitted to the provincial Ministry of Transportation, which shares data with the police system that officers use to verify ownership and status.

Later, Vanden Heuvel told CBC Hamilton his April court date was pushed ahead and eventually cancelled, with the city telling him it would be thrown out after further review. 

After the tow truck driver took his car on that February day, Vanden Heuvel said, he went to Service Ontario, where he spoke to a manager and explained the situation. The manager also tried to call Mike's Auto Parts in Stoney Creek, but didn't reach anyone, he said.

According to a records search Vanden Heuvel shared with CBC Hamilton, his VIN history shows the SUV being transferred to him on July 16, 2017, the day he bought out his lease from Red Hill Toyota in Hamilton. That record shows the car being transferred to Mike's Auto Parts on Nov. 3, 2022. At some point in between, it shows the car marked as wrecked.