Guys/Gals

Thinking of buying a plate

GL53 OWL

Then modifying the spacing to show it as

GL 5 3OWL

If I did this, am I likely to attract unwanted attention?

I know stricly it is illegal, but do police bother with this sort of stuff?

Speaking from someone who was pulled twice and warned, then pulled again and fine, and warned next time DVLA would be taking the plate - yeah, they DO bother.

Almost definatly yes, especially considering the new law that comes in on the 1st september making it illegal to sell plates without the BS mark in the uk. What that means is that most, if not all of the online plate makers will be put out of business overnight, meaning the only source of plates will be legal ones which means correct spacing.

I was tugged once and fined for the pleasure so returned it to (near) legal :P

the police do bother and IIRC 2 tugs and the plate can be taken off you.

also goes for plates with the wrong colour background too.

also goes for plates with the wrong colour background too.

Yup.

Making a big thing of black/silver plates round here on cars that arent old enough for them.

Some bird on a TV cop show was warned about getting 6 points, as it was her 3rd tug by the old bill. The put an order in place that she couldnt drive it until she proved she had the legal plates.

I was tugged once and fined for the pleasure so returned it to (near) legal :P

the police do bother and IIRC 2 tugs and the plate can be taken off you.

Man I should not really read such ludeness into that post!

lol, not me :naughty:

Yup. Most definitely. One of the reasons is all the ANPR enabled cameras around the country. Think of it like this...

if your car was nicked the ANPR cameras would pick it up whenever it passed one of them, thus alerting the local police as to where it was.

With mis spaced plates, the cameras can't read it, so your chances of getting the car back are reduced.

Also, everytime you go past a police ANPR check, it will alert the police that its an 'unreadable' plate, thus ensuring they stop you etc.Thats what they were saying on one of the Police, Camera, Action type shows anyway.

D'OH - one minute too late - above post!

ANPR isnt as stupid as the police like to make out it is though, my current plate has lost the space in the middle, other than that nothing varying from legal and I drive through ANPR on a nearly daily basis and had no problems, it the daft fonts etc that I think are the main issue.

Or folks like the guy on roadwars last night with the transit van and half a roll of sparkie tape on the plate to make it look completley different.

ANPR isnt as stupid as the police like to make out it is though, my current plate has lost the space in the middle, other than that nothing varying from legal and I drive through ANPR on a nearly daily basis and had no problems, it the daft fonts etc that I think are the main issue.

Sisters fella who does ANPR and speeding stuff says the system *can* handle most fonts. However surface glare etc can cause issues, and the reading software gen is programmed to check known formats for speed - otherwise it take ages to scan the UK database. Hence any that fall outside of these are flagged as unreadable, so a real person can make the final call - otherwise all-non UK plates would be forever tugged

Thanks

Sounds like it is probably a wise choice not to go down this road

You are however allowed a Great Britain, England, Welsh or Scottish flag I believe, and I think that's the most artistic you can get with them.

Pretty sure you're not allowed those, only the EU flag with either GB or EU on it for UK issued plates.

Sure someone here had a CZ flag, and was issued a cease notice. Sure a search will bring it up

http://www.dvla.gov.uk/media/pdf/leaflets/displayofnumberplates.pdf

The Government announced on 28 December 2001 the intention to permit the display of nationalflags and symbols on vehicle number plates. When the regulations are amended they will providefor the voluntary display of the Union flag, Scottish Saltire, Cross of St George and Red Dragon.Football team crests etc are not allowed.

Unfortunately I cannot find any DVLA literature stating categorically they are now allowed, however this news story suggests they are.

BBC News | SCOTLAND | Flag day for patriotic drivers

I got these made up anyway, hope no overeager police officers will pull me.

Edited 10 August, 200817 yr by anewman

I assume numberplate surrounds are not applicable as I have a bloody great CZ flag at the bottom of mine.

I assume numberplate surrounds are not applicable as I have a bloody great CZ flag at the bottom of mine.

Your fine with that, As JohnD posted last week

On this topic.

The new rules as advised by our Briskoda surrounds supplier are

' In order to comply with the British standard each Number Plate MUST be permanent and legibly marked ONLY with the following:

a The British Standard number

b The name, trademark or other means of identification of the Number Plate manufacturerer or compnent supplier; and

c. the name and postcode of the supplying outlet.

Please note that website addresses, telephone numbers and logos should NOT be used '

The above is an extract from the DVLA to number plate manufacturers

This will be enforcable from November 1st 2008.

Now the good news

The use of Number plate surrounds that are OUTSIDE the legal area of the Number plate are still legal, basically anything not on the Yellow (or white) part of the Number Plate.

Thus you can still use the Briskoda Number Plate surrounds - we have checked this out with supplier today. So if you want a set look in the shop area. - They are legal

Other alternatives are apparently going to be available shortly and we will explore the possibility of getting these when available. - We do not ar this stage have any indication of what or when - so please do not ask as we can not tell you!

Still worried about my front plate, but had no issues to date.

I take it that if your numberplates don't have the mark, then you don't have to replace them?

They only need the mark if they are produced after the 1st September?

I take it that if your numberplates don't have the mark, then you don't have to replace them?

They only need the mark if they are produced after the 1st September?

no, your plates must conform to standard, all plates must have a mark on cars past a certain year.. 2001 springs to mind for 'bsau 145d 'but i'm not 100% on that.

the new laws are actually coming into force in october, not september like most believe but thats on sale of the plates, not laws on display which aren't changing.