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Number plates, legal or not?!

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Number plates, legal or not?!

Legal or Illegal?

  • Total voters
    69
WhiteSei said:
The MOT has 10 (maybe 15) items on number plates. Non can be advisories and are all pass/fail. Plates are about control - its odd how a safety test has become a style police test.

Non compliant plates however give the police the opportunity to stop you and then check the car for defects. With older cars there's a good chance they'll find something.

If you have a bike with a tiny (but cool) plate you WILL get stopped and they WILL fine you £60. If you have plates that are easily readable (car or bike) e.g. normal size, no silly cursive fonts you will probably be ok. But technically there is no difference - its still an illegal plate.

If your plate falls off they have to tell you & let you go on your way. No fine but maybe a caution. If you have an illegal plate its a deliberate action on your part so you get fined. No ifs, no buts.

BTW, a plate attached with velcro might also be a problem.
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Word of warning on number plates , i got stopped 4 years ago on a bike with a small plate on the a12 . Not only did i get a £60 fpn they measured and photographed the plate as evidence for the dvla , the police informed me that if i got caught again with an illegal plate on that registration dvla would confiscate that registration number . I would then have to apply for a Q reg which would then lower the value of my bike and put up my insurance :mad:
 
mickbr71 said:
Word of warning on number plates , i got stopped 4 years ago on a bike with a small plate on the a12 . Not only did i get a £60 fpn they measured and photographed the plate as evidence for the dvla , the police informed me that if i got caught again with an illegal plate on that registration dvla would confiscate that registration number . I would then have to apply for a Q reg which would then lower the value of my bike and put up my insurance :mad:
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Was that just a standard reg Mark or a private / cherished one? I've head about them doing similar with private plates Mis-spaces etc, but not with regular ones, although not impossible I suppose :(
 
Most Easterly Pandas said:
Was that just a standard reg Mark or a private / cherished one? I've head about them doing similar with private plates Mis-spaces etc, but not with regular ones, although not impossible I suppose :(
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standard reg mark
 

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What about cloudiness/delamination, even though it's still legible?

And a black screw cover in the wrong place, even though it's clearly not trying to modify a character.
 

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more likely to be failed becuase of the discolouration, i very much doubt anyone would even notice that black screw as like u said, its not modifiying the lettering etc also i think as long as your font is charles wright (i believ) then the police are not really going to notice or think anythings wrong with your plate. as theyd have to be stood bloody close to ur car to notice writing at the bottom etc. its when your numberplate is italic or something lol they notice,, i think most of the time its at the discretion of the police. Furthermore there are hundreds of german style plates, illegal fonts etc round near me and have seen the same plates like it for years, so either noone has noticed or they keep paying the fines lol....:D
 
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I'm pretty sure the Fiat logo on the plates is illegal and also they're pesonalised on the bottom with a name which is illegal if the plates were made and fitted after 31st August 2002 even though the post code and BS number are in the corner!
On a more positive note, the border is ok though!(y)
 
Obviously the laws on number plates is a tad grey in places.
As our beloved leaders love to bleed us dry every chance they get, I really am amazed that they haven't tightened the rulings right down to ;- plain background, must be fixed with tamper-proof screws, must be a set font, set size, set spacing & a plate must always be displayed on the outside of the vehicle. Screws must be coloured to match immediate background etc.
Make it mandatory for MOT stations & police to notify DVLA of any breach (so if it happens again...) and impose on the spot fines.
And if they catch you on the road with illegal plate, the vehicle has to be towed home at your expense.

I know some will say that the law is already tight on these things and yet i consistently see dodgy plates around town - a neighbour along the road has 66 on his plate which he has changed (using screw caps) so the 6 looks like E. it's been like that a few years so he's obviously never been pulled for it & must always swap the plates at test time. Another one has changed a 9 to look like a Y...
On my way to work, someone has obviously spent out debadging their car etc and that has also included removing front and rear plates - which are now propped up in the front & rear screen - the fact that the bodywork is all shiny & smooth says that the plates haven't just fallen off!
 
I know it's keeping an old thread alive, but from the MOT inspection manual section 6.3:
http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m4s06000302.htm

Information
Unregistered vehicles need not be fitted with registration plates.

This inspection does not apply to foreign registered, diplomatic or military vehicles.

Vehicles manufactured before 1 January 1973 may have registration plates displaying white, grey or silver characters on a black background.

Three-dimensional characters are permitted to use grey edging in order to achieve the 3D effect on any age of vehicle.

Quadricycles must be fitted with a front number plate.

A three-wheeled vehicle with motorcycle derived steering and suspension does not require a front number plate.


Method of Inspection

1. Check that there is a registration plate at both the front and the rear of the vehicle, and check each one for security and condition.

2. On vehicles first registered on or after 1 January 1973, check:
- the colour of the characters and background
- that the registration plates are fixed vertically, or as close to vertical as is reasonably practical.

3. On vehicles first registered on or after 1 September 2001, check that the registration plates do not display a honeycomb or similar effect background.

4. Refer to pages 4 and 5 and check visually that the characters are correctly formed, spaced, and are not obviously likely to be misread due to, for example, badly positioned or uncovered retaining bolts etc.

Reason for rejection

1. A registration plate:
a. missing or incorrect
b. so insecure that it is likely to fall off
c. letter or figure missing or incomplete
d. faded, dirty, delaminated, deteriorated or obscured, (for example by a towbar) so that it is likely to be misread or is not easily legible by a person standing approximately 20 metres to the front/rear of the vehicle
e. background overprinted or shadowed with text e.g. vehicle manufacturer name.

2.
a. a front registration plate does not have black characters on a white background
b. a rear registration plate does not have black characters on a yellow background
c. a registration plate not fixed vertically, or as close to vertical as is reasonably practical.

3. A registration plate obviously displaying a honeycomb or similar effect background.

4. A registration plate with:
a. characters which are obviously not the correct height, character width, stroke width, not of equal width along their entire length or incorrectly spaced
b. a character not correctly formed, sloping, or likely to be misread
c. any feature that has the effect of changing the appearance or legibility of any of the characters, so that the true identity of the vehicle is less easily established
d. characters formed using a font which is not substantially similar to the prescribed font
e. characters formed using broken or multiple strokes
f. characters laid out in an incorrect format
g. a margin obviously less than the minimum requirement
h. a non-reflective border obviously wider than permitted or positioned too close to the characters (see page 5).
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Unfortunately the online version of the manual doesn't appear to include the "pages 4 and 5" mentioned above though.
 
i would say legal as long as the numbers & letters are the correct size,
i've also heard that plates that have been altered by spacings too enhance names are an MOT failure now ,can get around that by having a spare set of normal plates and fitting them just for the mot.
 
just a quick one before i log off once had a pug 205 1800 diesel ,god it was quick off the mark no turbo i was having a dice with a rover zr petrol car 50 in the 30mph neither of us saw the camera van only just got rid of my other endorsment i was right behind him so he probably got away with it .I thought here we go another fine and a mark on the license,anyway nothing came in the post strange i thought . when i sold the car to a workmate his wife noticed the back and front number plate were different write numbers and letters but in the wrong order on the back so neither of us got done i bet that annoyed plod and the dvla which is just down the road from me .
 
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