This might seem a daft question but it was a question I could not answer when asked by my overseas visitors last week.
Why are the number plates in this country white on the front and orange on the back?.
Regards Mal
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So that you can tell if the car is coming or going!
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Well yes, I did actually think of that at the time but thought that was too simple a reason and thought there must be a more technical point to it but if that is true reason then ok Your Honour it was a daft question.
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Simple British Civil Service Common Sense. The RTA does not allow for a white light to be shown to the rear - so called retro reflective materials when white in colour are also deemed to be illegalwhen shown to the rear. Yellow isn't. Red plates whilst logical were deemed to be difficult to read in daylight (remember the ones from Southern Ireland) so they plumped for yellow which was as visible as white in daylight hence the current practice, makes sense to me. No doubt DVD will correct me !
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So it looks like it was not such a daft question after all and there could be a small debate on the reason why. I don't feel so daft now for asking.
Oh and BTW I have noticed I said they were orange when they are actualy yellow.
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One man's orange is another man's yellow...probably the same Civil Servants had a specific name on the colour that in no way reflected either one that we chose !
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Rear plates have always been yellow (ever since they changed from silver-on-black).
However I've noticed recently a few cars and trucks have been getting orange (orange like the Kia on the right hand column of this site) rear plates - what's that all about??!
mike
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.However I've noticed recently a few cars and trucks have been getting orange (orange like the Kia on the right hand column of this site) rear plates - what's that all about??! mike
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Yes Mike I have also seen plates of a simillar colour but on closer examination these have beeen new plates with the protective film still attached.
It puzzles me why they have not removed it, could it be they are under some mistaken belief it foils the "s************s" or do they not realise that it has to be removed?.
Mal.
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Sorry that must be a dirty word on this site as well as to myself which is why I added " before and after.
We all know speed cameras have a lot to do with collecting revenue.
Mal.
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It wasn't a daft question in the first place mal.
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Another perhaps daft question: How is it possible in some countries to make number plates of your own? I mean you can just create a non-existant combination of letters and numbers and use that?
Vagelis.
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Another perhaps daft question: How is it possible in some countries to make number plates of your own? I mean you can just create a non-existant combination of letters and numbers and use that?
Do you mean legally do it, or physically buy the bits and stick them together?
You can do that here if you want to risk the fine for having false number plates. Get the cheapest option from Halfords, a DIY blank plate and a set of numbers/letters for your car, all legal. Then buy some 3" characters of your choice from the ironmongers and make your own plates.
It's a wonder more people don't do it - the fine if caught must be a lot less than the price of some personalised numbers
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Do you mean legally do it, or physically buy the bits and stick them together?
I don't think you can do that any more. Number plate suppliers have to be registered now (www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/rnps.htm ) and buyers of plates have to show evidence that they are doing so legitimately. When I was a lad my Dad didn't buy a new trailer plate every time he changed his car. He just bought a new set of stick-on letters. I don't suppose you can buy DIY plates now.
How can people have any combination of characters they like in certain countries? Provided their DVLA equivalent keeps a register of all plates issued, and makes sure the same plate isn't issued twice, I don't see a problem
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In some countries, e.g. the US, you can make up your own licence plate out of a certain number of allowed numbers and letters, assuming they haven't been taken by someone else already. There are search engines on the DMV (= US DVLA) web sites for each state in the US that let you search for your own custom licence plate combination that isn't taken yet.
mike
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The explanation that I remember, from the time that reflective plates were first introduced, is that the rear number plate does not need the same level of reflectiveness, since it is illuminated at night by the number plate lights (or it should be!). Conversely, the front plate isn't illuminated, so it's reflectiveness must be higher to make it more visible at night.
I hope that makes sense !
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You may not supply plates to a third party unless you are a registered number plate supplier. However, there is nothing to prevent you making a plate for your own cars, provided that the plates comply with the law.
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...there is nothing to prevent you making a plate for your own cars, provided that the plates comply with the law.
Does that mean it would be legal to sell me the blank plates and lettering to do it? If so it seems such a glaring loophole as to make a nonsense of the new regulations.
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Perfectly legal - I quote from the link given a couple of posts above-
"If a business supplies only blank plates or other components or materials it will not be required to register. People who manufacture plates solely for their own use, rather than supply to third parties, are not within the scope of the legislation e.g. a fleet operator who assembles plates and fits them only to vehicles in his fleet. As he does not supply the plates, he is not a supplier for the purposes of the legislation".
You are right - it does make a nonsense of the regulations in a way. However, you are unlikely to wish to fit counterfeit plates to your own car if you were simply going to drive around in it and if you were to fit dodgy plates to a car to sell you would be guilty of supplying counterfeit plates which is an offence - even though as an individual you were not required to register as a plate supplier.
This may not be the intention of the legislation but that is the way it has been drafted. Anyone who had the misfortune to come before me charged with illegally making a plate but who had done so with quite legitimate intent would not find it hard to plead in mitigation that he is not covered by the legislation, being a fleet operator, albeit of a fleet of one!
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In the real world I have seen a vehicle with an 03 plate that was certainly not standard approved characters.
There are still plenty of new vehicles i.e. 2003 models with cherished number plates that have distorted characters.
Perhaps the new NPRS will flag up some of these. It would be nice to think so.
Overall there certainly seems to be far far more plates that conform to the standards.
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Don't know about distorted characters, but I bet there's one guy who's out of shape about this:
tinyurl.com/m6su
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But Mlud, does one car constitute a fleet?
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Expect more ANPR system...saw a flyer for one whilst lounging around a custody suite....£9000 fitted to your jam butty.
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>>But Mlud, does one car constitute a fleet?
I don't see why not. Switzerland has a navy!
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Would the police likely take action if you were to report a boy racer with an illegally spaced and typefaced plate?
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Probably depends on whether you were reporting him for being a boy racer or having illegal numberplates...
Although they are unlikely to rush to see him, sometimes they have been known to "have a quiet word"...might depend if he is already "known"
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Expect more ANPR system...saw a flyer for one whilst lounging around a custody suite....£9000 fitted to your jam butty.
Good. The more ANPRs there are around, the better. I hate people who are uninsured, untaxed and/or unMOTed. I presume these are there to catch them. I'm sure this lot also disproportionately represent the "incorrectly registered" brigade. More power to the Police's elbow on this one. As mentioned elsewhere, it also encourages the Police to speak to these miscreants and to cop them for all the other crimes that many of them have committed.
Rant ends.
V
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A friend often does shifts on ANPR in Walsall and she says that the theory that the drivers of untaxed vehicles are often wanted for other offences certainly holds true.
Now this is the kind of motorist targeting that I do agree with.
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PDC - no. I reported MER1K as he'd seriously carved me up on the M4 - complete ****** in a Range Rover swerved deliberately at me in a Metro!
Went to the cop shop and reported the illegal plate and was told that as it's a moving offence (I think that was the term) it has to be witnessed by a police officer.
If anyone sees him, please tell me where!
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Young lad at work was stopped twice for illegal spacing/typeface. He was told he would lose it next time.
How do dealers get plates made up with car names on these days?
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The stuff that is really sorting the men from the boys at the moment is the computer link from traffic cars to the drivers license register.
Much more difficult for unlicensed, uninsured, untaxed Johnny Scrote to give a false id and address at the roadside so the producer is a waste of time. ie questions like just where and when did you pass your test Mr Scrote start the story changing apparently until they have dug themselves well in the mire.
Serves em right. hur hur
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