I would like to buy the registration plate "A8 XBC" from the DVLA for £250. My initials are BC and I would like to display it as "A8X BC". I suspect that this is illegal, is that the case - is it a grey area, do the police know / care / turn a blind eye? I don't want to spend all the time worrying about it. I have no intention of having plates made up in non-regulation fonts or anything like that.
And please, not too many comments about what a waste of money it is / how insecure I must be etc!
|
|
That would be wrongly spaced and illegal. But the authorities would probably only take action if it could not be read by Speed Cameras and Big Brother cameras, and therefore deprive them of their daily bread.
|
|
If it's in standard font etc there's no reason why ANPR / SPECS wouln't be able to read it... would local plod consider pulling over a car because of the spacing issue? I see them on the road all the time
|
|
|
|
|
Would it not lead to an MOT failure, or are you lucky enough to buy new and keep for 3 years?
|
|
No it's an 'R' reg, the main reason for wanting a plate is to disguise age. Having initials is a bonus TBH but still one I'd like to have
|
The DVLA website suggests that changing the spacing of the characters on the registration plate "may" lead to an MOT failure, so it's all a bit vague.
How about 2 sets of plates, one for the MOT and another for daily use?
|
|
I was told by a policeman friend that Merseyside Police have been instructed to clamp down on wrongly spaced number plates. It so happens that, within a few days of this, the daughter of one of my neighbours was stopped by the Police and told to have the plates changed within seven days. She was given a ticket that had to be stamped by the dealer and presented at a police station when this had been done..
|
|
You'll get pulled over and told to get them put on the car EXACTLY as they are on your V5C. At the motor factors I work in we now make nothing but plates for people who've been pulled. They've cracked down big-time on this in the past few months.
|
|
Hmm I thought as much, is it obvious that "A8 XBC" should not be written as "A8X BC"? i.e. are there no plates out there with 3x2 characters? Or could ANPR potentially pick up the fact that it was wrongly spaced?
Edited by perleman on 02/05/2008 at 20:06
|
Or could ANPR potentially pick up the fact that it was wrongly spaced?
I understand it causes a mis-read, and therefore calls attention to itself.
|
Any deliberate doctoring of number plates should be a non-endorsable £30 ticket. Vehicle Defect Rectification should not be used to deal with the matter. If transgression continues the plates can be withdrawn by the DVLA as they still have rights over the issue of the number.
Seems hypocritical when they are flogging the things.
|
|
|
mate in Devon did exactly what you're suggesting on his wife's car....after being stopped twice he's changed the plates back to something more reasonable
if an ANPR camera misreads your plate, you're quite possibly going to bring attention to yourself and get stopped up the road....not a good idea if you've left it a bit too long to re-new a tyre or one of your lights are out
if you live in a large city you might get away with it for a bit longer, but in reality it's only a matter of time before a traffic officer nabs you
|
|
I'm getting the picture. Rubbish. A plate that says "14 BC" is about £20,000 more!
|
|
I use 'fun' plates but I have the old ones in the boot tucked away, after remembering a story in MCN (motorcycling paper) where the Police were taking undersized/non-approved number-plates off bikes 'as evidence' and prohibiting the rider from continuing their journey because they had no plates fitted.
|
www.dvla.gov.uk/media/pdf/leaflets/displayofnumber...f
The law states that,
You must not alter, rearrange or misrepresent the letters or numbers
Characters must not be moved from one group to the other (e.g. A242 ABC must not be
displayed as A242A BC).
Offences may result in any or all of the following:
A fine of up to £1,000
The registration mark may be WITHDRAWN
The vehicle may FAIL the MOT test
|
|
And everyone will think you're a prat for buying a personalised number plate. Well, I will anyway. Sorry.
|
|
thanks for taking the time out of your day to share that
|
DH,
Was that really necessary? Plenty of people buy private plates, I have. There are probably many things you do that i wouldn't, do i think you're a prat for doing so. Apart from you writing the above comment, i'd just accept that human beings are different and 'each to their own'....why so rude?
|
DH, it's not perleman who's the prat here...
I have plates on my car which are legally spaced but have the Liverpool Football Club crest where the EU/national flag should be. I also have a pair of 'normal' plates in the boot. Job done. Although my MoT tester did mention the 'dodgy' plates to me as I'd left them in the boot when it went for test.
Cheers.
|
All DH said was 'everyone will think you're a prat for buying a personalised number plate'.
The only thing wrong with that statement is 'everyone'.
Plenty/a lot/many drivers think unkind thoughts when they see a personalised plate.
The owner of the plate might not like it, or might not care, but it is true.
Me, I think all drivers who have personalised plates are prats, and my opinion won't change until I can afford a good one for myself.
|
A local red BMW Mini converible has a plate starting 00002. All the 0s are the same.
No idea what the real number can be. Just hope I do not get involved with them in an incident.
|
Can't remember the exact vehicle but I *think* it was some kind of 4 wheel drive thingy.
Anyway, number plate on it was L31 GHW. Owner had moved the spaces to spell L31GH W
|
|
There was a long thread on here about a year ago on this very subject and Plates that had been rearanged to appear differently to what the DVLA had intended were consistently referred to as PRATT PLATES.Cant disagree with that.A lot of the posters then claimed it was ''Only a bit of fun''Can anyone explain how having an illegal number plate is having fun?
|
Best one I saw for sale (and it was for sale for a long time) was /is
AR51GYT
someone bought it eventually
|
sq
Nice one - took me a minute to catch on...
And I speak as someone who's just bought a 'cherished plate'. I suppose it all feeds back into the hungry machine that is government and does some good somewhere just for the sake of feeding our own vanity.
The reason I bought mine was because I've just bought a rather nice old car (Mercedes E55 estate) which had a personalised number on it awaiting being put on retention. Prattish and vain it may be, but passengers and strangers appreciated the personal plates and I had quite a few conversations with perfectly genuine and civil strangers. No harm in that I thought, so why not get one of my own - as long as I didn't put something like PEN15 on it etc...
Edited by Pugugly on 04/05/2008 at 23:56
|
|
Liked the one I saw on a range rover sport a few weeks ago- 0008ABY.
|
Best one I saw for sale (and it was for sale for a long time) was /is AR51GYT
Funniest one I saw (on eBay a while ago):
8< snip - no more rude ones please. Had more than enough of those to edit in other numberplate threads without having to do the same in this one as well.
Edited by Webmaster on 05/05/2008 at 14:04
|
A local red BMW Mini converible has a plate starting 00002. All the 0s are the same. No idea what the real number can be. Just hope I do not get involved with them in an incident.
Are you sure that's four '0's? OO02 XYZ (that's Oh-Oh-Zero-Two) would be a perfectly valid (Oxford area) registration number. But the standard font used for plates doesn't distinguish betweens Ohs and zeros, which makes it look strange.
|
And everyone will think you're a prat for buying a personalised number plate. Well I will anyway. Sorry.
I second this, why would you want a personalised plate, here are some possible reasons :-
1) Too mean to buy a new or newish car
2) Hairdresser
3) Suffering from Munchausen Syndrome
4) Cash burning hole in pocket
|
I think it is extremely rude to label someone a 'prat' just because they indulge in something that doesn't take your fancy or you don't understand their thinking.
There are many things in life that i don't have the faintest understanding of why other human beings partake in them.. for example, at random, fishing... however i don't think all recreational fishermen are prats. I do wonder why though... particularly when I drive past people at 0500 on a cold winter's morning sat around a pond..but.. ultimately if it gives them pleasure, why not. Who am I to judge them?
For what it's worth... i bought er indoors a plate for her birthday a few years back. My first initial, the letter 4 and her three initials e.g. A4ABC. It went down well with her, she has a plate she can keep for the rest of her driving days, it will appreciate gradually in value AND WE LIKE IT.
I have a plate on my car, because my first name comprises of three letters so is easily spelt on a number plate AND I FANCIED IT.
What's the problem and why be so rude?
|
I think the term prat plates is usually applied to those where spacing or other foramtting has been changed.
And they do get caught. Car in next road ran round for ages with Y20 EXX (not really XX I don't want to embarrass the real Zoe) re-arranged to Y ZOE XX - then one week it went back to normal (and stayed there so not just for MoT purposes). .
|
|
Nice one on a porsche in peterborough- DAV180Y
|
To the OP: Any reason not to just go for A8 XBC and not mis-space. Everyone else on the road won't know whether the plate is meant to mean anything, but you'll have the knowledge your initials are on there.
I put an R plate on what would have been a 51 plate Boxster to hide its age (though may make it look like one of the earliest) and add my initials. For the few hundred pounds it cost, I find the five-character plate does the job nicely. It was a bit of a convoluted purchase though, because far too many people have the same initials as me and the DVLA had no decent letters left.
The other thing I was considering was a plate without prefix or suffix but had an X amongst the second or third letter. It would completely hide the age, though not have my own initials on. Such a six character plate could be had for around £500 off eBay because it wouldn't be many people's initials, but there remains the possibility of selling it on for not too much less at a later date.
Personalised plates are very a personal thing, perhaps like jewellery. To me, much of the latter serves little purpose, valid exceptions being to indicate womens' unavailability or help tell the time. I don't personally see the benefit of wearing a shiny piece of metal, but have no objection to those who wish to do so.
|
|
|
|
|
