In October 2007 I had parked my car by Aldrington rail station in Hove, whilst commuting to work. On my return to the vehicle, I found a note on the windscreen from, presumably, a nearby resident, with their apologies for cracking my front number plate. They were even good enough to provide their phone number. The damage to the plate can be seen below. It wasn't major, just an annoyance, particularly because the plastic backing had been split as well.
Although I sourced a replacement plastic part, to date in April 2008 I have still not replaced it, because given the state of the rest of the car, to be honest it's not really an issue. Having driven into car parks equipped with number plate-reading technology, I've verified that the plate is still readable because it gets printed on my ticket, so until it breaks or I become less lazy, it shall stay as it is.
I also never bothered to ring the person who had caused the damage. Since they had been kind enough to leave their details - surely a rarity these days - I decided to let them off the hook. Sadly, the rust around the vents behind the plate is a good indication of the general state of the car's bodywork at present.