It was a license to bill.
An upstate granny had to give up her beloved “BELLA” vanity plate because she was being flooded with speeding tickets meant for an NYC biker with a fugazi copycat tag.
Sharon Ritmo has gotten 10 speed-camera tickets since June meant for an NYC motorcyclist — despite the fact that she’s an Albany grandma who’s never ridden a motorcycle in her life.
The unidentified biker illegally placed a souvenir vanity plate, also “BELLA” — Italian for “beautiful” — on his motorcyle in order to evade camera tickets, a practice officials refer to as “ghost plates.”
The stepmom of three and grandmother of five drives a 2017 Kia Sportage.
Two of the $50 tickets were issued on her birthday, Aug. 31, when she was in Sicily celebrating with her husband.
Her local Department of Motor Vehicles wasn’t able to help her, and appealing the tickets online did nothing to stop them from coming.
Ritmo, a nurse, got so nervous that she would be arrested that she began driving with a letter from her lawyer in her glove compartment.
“I was careful, I didn’t speed, I didn’t go on highways or do anything crazy,” she told The Post.
City Councilmember Oswald Feliz (D-The Bronx) told The Post that “ghost plates” are a worsening problem.
“DMV closed many physical locations during the pandemic, and temporary paper plates became common. This opened the floodgates for many fraudulent schemes,” he said.
An advocate at the NYC Office of Parking Summons was able to resolve the outstanding tickets, however, Ritmo was told the only way to prevent more tickets from coming would be to turn in her cherished plates, which she did with a heavy heart on Oct. 21.
She got the plates in 1985 when her husband Joe, who owns a barbershop, surprised her by putting them on her Mitsubishi Laser.
“It’s like a love story . . . he called me outside, he had the plates made for me, and I’ve had it for 40 years,” she recalled.
“My husband’s from Sicily, the Bella name is meaningful to him,” she explained, “It’s my nickname, it’s what my husband always calls me. When I gave up my plates, I felt like I was giving up part of my identity.”
“I was very sad. This truly did mean something to my husband and I. The end of an era, 40 years of meaning something special,” she told The Post.
When asked if she would consider buying a new vanity plate, Ritmo said she wanted to let the dust settle before making a decision, adding the whole situation was immensely stressful for her.
And though she may no longer have the license plate, her nickname endures.
“My husband tells me I’m still his Bella.”