Number Plates...

[Aimee]

Im looking into having a square numberplate on the front (to the side) when my private plate arrives...

does the current number plate go straight through the bumper? if so im scared itll leave two big holes :( and i dont wanna take mine off myself because i dont think il be able to put it back on again!

thanks :D

[SJandMR2]

I have taken mine off there is holes, but its easy to put back on again tho, how would you fit square ones on the rear? or is just the front?

[Aimee]

thanks! just on the front, on the passenger side of the bumper!

no doubt ill probably be fined for the lettering on the plate but itll be worth it! Will post piccies as soon as its here ;)

[dlt1366]

thanks! just on the front, on the passenger side of the bumper!

no doubt ill probably be fined for the lettering on the plate but itll be worth it! Will post piccies as soon as its here ;)

If it is a private plate, I would keep it on a standard size. While it may not give the look you want, you could end up having your plates confiscated and all your rights to the number revoked - you may not get a fine. I paid a lot of money for my number, not worth the risk of losing it.

[Boro Sera]

no doubt ill probably be fined for the lettering on the plate but itll be worth it!

Base Jumping from Canary wharf would be worth a fine.

[moonstone mart]

If you move the front plate you will leave 2 holes. Also i dont remeber the Aygo front bumper being flat enough anywhere else for a plate to fit :S

I would suggest not !Removed! the plate to the side of the bumper, use soem good double sided foam instead. This way if you decide to put it back to centre you wont be left with 2 holes on the side.

Mart.

[Aimee]

it wont be screwed in :)

plates wont be confiscated straight away, the police (round here anyway) are doing 3 strikes then the plate is taken off... I'll have some made with legal lettering and stick them over the top when the police are about. If it does get confiscated then its only £250 ive lost anyways

[Devil-ish]

Hmmm was stopped by 2 cops on pushbikes(!) told my number plate was illegal grrrrrrrrr all I had was ickle devil on left hand side and Les & Anne underneath where you normally have garage name. Was told to rectify or my number would be taken off me!!!!!!!!!!! So think carefully what you want to do. I now have special plates to put on when 'showing' my car only...................sighs. :censor:

[Aimee]

you have to have the garage postcode or phone number where u had them made as it will fail on the mot now apparently, probs to stop fraud plates etc.

the police arent too bad here... ill have *special* plates, but ill just have sensible ones to go over the top for when mr police man pulls me :)

[T V O R]

Try here

[Jan van de Wouw]

Can someone please illustrate what was illegal for me?

As I'm not from the UK, I'm not familiar with the rules and possibilities with license plates...

All I DO know is thah you have to have white in front and yellow at the rear...

[Boro Sera]

Number plates over here are governed by ever increasing small minded, petty beaurocracy. - like most things unfortunately !

The letters have to be a specific font, with very specific spacing. The plate has to be a very specific size ( although Imports get a bit of leeway with this ) and must state the plate maker on it. You can't have emblems such as football crests on the plate, only approved images like the European Star thingy etc.

There are regulations and there is interference, this one blurs the boundaries somewhat !

Still, easier to enforce and fine than actually bothering to locate and prosecute all the uninsured/unlicensed drivers on the roads !

( if the car's old enough Jan, you can have black number plates with silver lettering - but it's got to be mighty old for that ! )

A lot of the argument for the number plate regulations state that it's so that you can't fool the Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems in police cars - sounds credible till you think that there are also Automatic face recognition systems available in the world yet people are free to change their expression without affecting these !

[Aimee]

thats an example of a legal plate, correct spacing, size & lettering. also has the phone number & postcode of where the plates were made.

having pictures at the sides of the number plate is illegal, unless is it the EU symbol (for those who drive over the channel). current number plates should be presented as 2 letters 2 numbers GAP then three letters (as above) and the older prefix style should be 1 letter 3 numbers GAP then 3 letters.

if you dont have the correct spacing/font etc the police can say that you're trying to misrepresent said plate so that it says something else... for example my new one is M44 YGO, but i will have it spaced as M4 4YGO (ma aygo) and therefore will probably get fined.

[T V O R]

Can someone please illustrate what was illegal for me?

All you need to know about UK number plates

[T V O R]

Is 3D lettering legal?

[Jan van de Wouw]

Thanks for the PDF, I'll have a read later...

Over here the size of the plate is mandatory (you CAN choose between a "Square" or "Long" plate)

except for some imports (My DeLorean had a smaller plate) and the font and spacing is all very

strict. You can' even have a plate made without showing your pink slip! Color is allways yellow,

unless you're a licensed cabby, then it's bright blue, dealer plates are bright green and very old

cars can have dark blue plates with while lettering over here. Else the text is black.

A black edge is mandatory too, as well as the EU-flag-thingie as of a couple of years ago.

The EU-thingie DOES have one advantage: the stupid oval country-sticker is gone!!!

As for who made the plate: the plate has to have a relief-stamp in it, stating a manuafactors'

number and the date it was made. Our plates are aluminium, so the can be stamped.

Letters are also in relief: they're pressed into the aluminium, then laminated black,

OR you can have expensive plates with ACTUAL 3-D plastic letters layed onto them!

At least you lot can take comfort in being able to buy a combination you like!

Boy, would I have loved to have had DA-99-ER on my DeLorean when I had it...

Over here it's just what's next in line in the running line of combinations and they just changed that...

My car sports a 2 numbers-2 letters-2 letters-combination (53-FD-TD), but as of a couple of weeks

ago it's gone to 1 number-3 letters-2numbers, i.e. 1-ABC-23, still keeping 6 characters and 2 dashes,

as the computer systems of the RDW (comparable to the DVLA) can't accept larger combinations.

(sort of like a millenium bug). Stupid, but we'll have to live with it...

[Calisto]

Illegal, the 1 and the 3 are too close together and no postcode of where number plate was made.

The Automatic Number Plate Recognition system can and does recognise that it is a separate 1 and 3. And the letter height is correct, but the font is not

[Jan van de Wouw]

Funny the automatic system still recognises it as a A13; I read AB at first :P

[Calisto]

Funny the automatic system still recognises it as a A13; I read AB at first :P

REALLY ????? :P ;)

[BadBoyVTEC]

from when i crashed :S

[geoffb]

Debates about plates are interesting. Personally, I can't see that reasonably sized badges on a plate should be a problem really e.g. football emblems, county or country insignia and suchlike, if a driver wants to use them. However, I do believe strongly that the letters and numbers of the plate should be a uniform legible shape and space so that a vehicle can be most easily identified by, for example, passers by and other drivers.

I'm not into personalised plates myself but if someone wants to spend money on one then they are 100% entitled. BUT, I cannot for the life of me understand why someone feels the desperate need to represent a plate as something it clearly is not and I've seen some seriously crazy and sad attempts at this with different colour screws being used in obviously wrong places, letters/numbers moved together to pretend it's something else, illegible spidery script fonts etc. Some are so weird that it is all but impossible to guess the real plate. In those cases, it would in certain circumstances be very difficult or impossible to identify that vehicle properly. Sorry, but in such cases I think the owner deserves all they get and in fact I'd like to see much higher fines than we have now. I don't see this as a petty offence.

As I say, I am not at all against personalised plates as such e.g. HOT 1 but I do think that doctoring plates is very sad and not at all appropriate.

Sorry, don't expect many to agree and please don't throw virtual bricks through my virtual window, but that's my 2p worth

[Aimee]

nah ure opinions are welcome hun!

i wont be having stupid scribbly fonts or screws in the wrong place, just a case of moving one number over so its M4 4YGO. think it would still be fully legible, and im sure if i got a warning ill just change it back..

the maximum fine you can get IF the police report you to the DVLA is £1000. then obviously u have whatever fine the police give you, and its whether they take your plates off you etc.

[Lister2020]

I really don't get the thing with personalised Number plates, or why you would willingly go through risking getting a fine/court appearance over them

[Parts-King]

I have no problem with personalised plates, I do have a problem in people having miss spaced lettering etc. I have to be licensed by DVLA to make plates, and pay a licence fee for the priviledge, so how come somebody can make a dodgy set or somebody put different coloured screws in to make new letters? I have never known anybody be fined yet for making a dodgy plate, maybe it's time to crack down on all the old equipment out there that makes dodgy plates. My machine wont make a dodgy plate even if you tried, it is foolproof

Kingo

[T V O R]

I’ve got a cherished plate as I wanted to personalise my car. I’ve had it for many years and it has gone up in value unlike other mods that could be added to a car.

Money isn’t an issue and I bought it... ‘Because I can’!! ;) I’ve just invested in new plates with a 3D font (legal) which looks really nice.

“Technically” I suppose it might be illegal as it doesn’t have any dealer logos on it or where it was made, but it does have the BS AU 145d which is conveniently incorporated into the border so isn’t noticeable. Having trade marks/post codes/names of the plate supplier spoils the appearance of a nice looking number plate, so I’ll take my chances.