Technical Pedantic MOT Tester?

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Technical Pedantic MOT Tester?

Alfadeke21

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Oct 22, 2019
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Rosyth, Fife
I have a 2007 Panda on a personal plate originally issued in 1994. They are metal plates, black on white & yellow reflective backings, numbers are correct size, script & spacing.
The only items missing are the BS number & the plate maker’s name & postcode. Up to now I’ve have had no problems with MOT’s. However the latest tester failed the car on “incorrect plates”. & hit me for the cost of new replacements & fitting them(!) £25 - or accept a fail. His argument was that the numbers were wrong size & wrongly spaced (by 1-2 mm possibly) & may not be able to be read by cameras.
My argument was that the plates were correct at the original 1994 issue date & were valid even when fitted to a vehicle first registered at a later year, 2007. The BS standards came in just after my 1994 number & my understanding is that most, if not all, MOT requirements are never retrospective.
I don’t have access to the Tester’s Manual, but on a trawl through the internet could find nothing to prove me right or wrong.
Does anyone have any thoughts, if anyone's interested?
 
Hi

Im a bit confused by the 'black on white and yellow'
You mean black characters on the correct colour background
White front..yellow rear

The inspectors argument seems to be about 'spacing'..

Is it any different to a 2007 issue plate..??

I see lots of modern campers with black and silver pressed plates nowadays.. NOT LEGAL post 1972 I believe.

I had 1980's digital text pressed plates @1984.. Ive not seen any in years.. were they not allowed at a later date..?

We do have people on here who quote from CUR and Tester Manuals..

I will be interested to find out :)

And who quotes the manual..
 
Last edited:
Apologies, Varese
I got carried away and posted this again on the correct section when I realised this was the wrong group. Yes I did mean black characters on white front & black characters on yellow rear…..
I’ve had some really interesting information on the correct Panda section! Not all good news though.
 
No BS number and no postcode can be fail-able as far as I'm aware, I think it's for cars post 2001 when the new lettering came in (but don't quote me on it!). You're right as far as the plates would be legal on a 94 car with a 94 reg in your format, but on an 07 car you must conform to the 07 regs. Pedantic, maybe, but correct, probably... I've got pre 01 cars with no BSAU mark that pass but post 01 may be the problem there! I'm surprised they looked that closely if I'm honest!
 
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