SEE IT: These Plate-Defacing Workers Put The ‘Con’ In Con Edison

They’re flipping us the bird.

Con Ed workers were caught on camera earlier this month illegally parking their truck in a Queens bus lane as well as illegally idling — but also illegally defacing their license plate by bending it upwards where it could no longer be read by automated cameras.

The video (below) was captured by Patrick Schnell, who regularly videotapes idling trucks as part of a city program that rewards residents whose efforts lead to idling tickets — often taking note of the shortcomings built into the city’s various enforcement strategies.

In this case, the shortcoming comes midway through the Oct. 1 video — when police officers who happened upon the corner of Jamaica Avenue and 160th Street decline to ticket the offending truck because they are outside of their precinct (their insignia confirmed that). But later, one of the officers said the Con Ed could not be ticketed because, “He’s working.”

The “He’s working” argument carries weight with cops; Con Ed workers often park illegally to make emergency repairs (where they are often caught idling). The company offered a broad statement.

“Thank you for sharing this video with us, which we are looking into,” said a company spokesperson, who declined to provide a name. “As part of the city’s emergency response network, Con Edison crews operate 24/7 to protect public safety. At times, that work requires prioritizing safety access over parking regulations. While safety always comes first, we work to minimize disruptions whenever possible.”

The spokesperson declined to answer a follow-up question on the specifics of the workers’ plate tectonics.

The truck in question doesn’t get many tickets — which is what happens when a driver bends the plate under the chassis. According to city records, it received its only speeding ticket back in 2022. And it has received no tickets for blocking a bus lane, even though it was parked in the route of the Q54 long enough to be summonsed … if, that is, it had readable plates.

Schnell was appalled on multiple levels. For one thing, he didn’t like that the cops refused to take “10 seconds” to ask the workers to fix the plate or to simply issue a summons for parking in the bus lane, idling, or having a concealed license plate (front and back).

Regarding Con Ed, Schnell said he has seen “absent, concealed, or defaced license plates at least 12 times so far this year” on company trucks. But that’s a lot fewer than he’s seen in the past, thanks to Streetsblog’s coverage about two years ago on this very topic.

Anecdotally, Schnell says horizontally bent plates on Con Ed trucks went down by about 95 percent after the article was published.

“So it seems what NYPD does not care to address, can be successfully addressed by committed journalism,” he said, earning blushes in our newsroom. “This is highly appreciated, since many companies, including Con Ed, unfortunately, truly do not believe they should be held accountable for their illegal behavior, whether it relates to violating basic traffic rules, or rampant idling.”