Ticket for dead tag prior to vanity plate arriving (Penn: car, office)

[dukelubas]

So I was in an unfortunate situation the other day having been rear-ended by somebody on my way to work. The trooper who filled out the accident report issued me a summons for a dead tag stating that I had the incorrect tag on my car. I had applied for a vanity plate and his computer was indicating to him that the correct tag should have been my vanity tag. However, I had not yet received the tag in the mail. Apparently PennDOT notes your old tag as dead once they activate and send out your vanity tag but there is no grace period for the time it takes for it to travel via mail nor are you given any kind of notice that “hey, we’ve activated your new tag, don’t drive your car for a day until it arrives and you switch tags” (as if everybody could take a day off from not driving to work).

The ticket is $142 plus $8 in fees that I have to send in even if I plead not guilty which I plan to do. My only issue is that I have no evidence to present. I can’t prove when I received the new tag (doesn’t come certified mail) nor can I prove when it was actually mailed. Has anybody run into this before? My general search of the internet turned up nothing so I figured I would ask here. Thanks in advance for any help!

[medievalbooks]

Appeal it, I went to Court to appeal a ticket once, officer never showed up. So I didn't have to pay