Then again, if you're the type of person that tries to race every car you come across and brag about it on car forums perhaps it's not so suprising that you have attracted the attention of the police........

JulieD, you are a LEGEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

......as far as legality, the police can do nothing!.........

It doesn't stop them trying though........

A short while ago I was stopped by a (tourist-hating) north Wales police traffic cop for an allegedly-illegal number plate on my motor-bike.

I should point out that the plate is 100% legal, but because the numbers and letters are mostly 'I's and '1's then it looks too narrow. It isn't.

He measured all the dimensions of the digits and spaces which were correct but then said that the plate did not conform to the minimum size.

I argued that there was no such thing as a "minimum-sized number plate".

He wasn't being a nark but was determined to prove his point so he and his colleague pulled out four large bags from the back of the police Volvo estate car which they were using and proceeded to search for the documentary evidence which proved his point.

For over 20 minutes I was standing at the roadside watching as the traffic squeezed by with the Volvo blocking the carriageway, it's blue lights flashing merrily away, and causing a tail-back which was getting bigger by the minute.

Finally,. with a cry of jubilation, Plod found the mysterious document, which on north Wales official headed paper declared the following:

"The legal minimum size for a motor-cycle number plate is 50mm x 35mm." I kid you not - this is true. 50mm x 35mm.

Less than the size of a credit card.

"Quite obviously, this is a mistake." quoted Plod as he mumbled an apology for wasting my time and re-loaded the bags into his car before rushing off in search of another dangerous criminal who had made the mistake of choosing to visit north Wales with iffy number plates.

The cuts to police budgets can't come soon enough.