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If the cars was registered before October? 2001, then I don't think they can make you change them for this or the use of a non-Arial font as long as they meet the lax regulations which were around prior to that year.
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Directive went out earlier this year from DoT that vehicles with plates that do not conform to Regs should not be passed.
www.tinyurl.com/m7v5 for Regs.
dvd
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SCHEDULE 2
Regulation 10
REQUIREMENTS FOR REGISTRATION PLATES
PART 1
VEHICLES REGISTERED AND NEW REGISTRATION PLATES FITTED ON OR AFTER 1ST SEPTEMBER 2001 (MANDATORY SPECIFICATION)
1. The plate must be made of retroreflecting material which, as regards its construction, colour and other qualities, complies with the requirements of -
(a) the British Standard specification for retroreflecting number plates published on 15 January 1998 under number BS AU 145d[13], or
(b) any other relevant standard or specification recognised for use in an EEA State and which, when in use, offers a performance equivalent to that offered by a plate complying with the British Standard specification,
and which, in either case, is marked with the number (or such other information as is necessary to permit identification) of that standard or specification.
2. Where the registration mark is displayed on the front of the vehicle, it must have black characters on a white background.
3. Where the registration mark is displayed on the back of the vehicle, it must have black characters on a yellow background.
PART 2
VEHICLES REGISTERED ON OR AFTER 1ST JANUARY 1973 AND BEFORE 1ST SEPTEMBER 2001 (OPTIONAL SPECIFICATION)
1. The plate must be made of reflex-reflecting material which, as regards its construction, colour and other qualities, complies with the requirements of -
(a) the British Standard Specification for reflex-reflecting number plates, published on 11 September 1972 under the number BS AU 145a[14], or
(b) any other relevant standard or specification recognised for use in an EEA State and which, when in use, offers a performance equivalent to that offered by a plate complying with the British Standard specification,
and which, in either case, is marked with the number (or such other information as is necessary to permit identification) of that standard or specification.
2. Where the registration mark is displayed on the front of the vehicle, it must have black characters on a white background.
3. Where the registration mark is displayed on the back of the vehicle, it must have black characters on a yellow background.
So when exactly was the car first registered?
Edited by Hamsafar on 14/10/2009 at 15:15
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Anyone got any honeycombed cling film?
Bubble wrap would be much better ;o)
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What's the difference between 'retroflective', 'reflex-reflective' and good old reflective (or reflecting)?
Just wondering.
French number plates now have an inbuilt sort of hologram thing. That's what it said on the board I read at the 'Mister Minit'-type bar back along.
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Its a 51. I bet Halfords (AGAIN) will do well out of this.
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I thought the MOT was a safety test, not an aesthetics test? Ooops, silly me. It's so the "Safety" cameras can read the plates.
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But even in these days of cameras, there is a requirement for Inpsector Knacker's Mk1 eyeball to be able to read it too? Obviously a big part of it is to make life easier for the cameras I agree - and Gatsos etc... are at best a solution of limited value to society.
However, the Police have figured out that the cars that are uninsured/untaxed/reported lost are often being used for worse criminal purposes, and so there is an explicit strategy to "deny criminals the use of the roads" as a way of preventing/detecting non-motoring crime too. Traffic-car mounted ANPR systems are the critical technology to enable these cars to be spotted.
To be honest, joined up Government has made it worse, with the DVLA desperately flogging any plate that might be made to look like a name depending on how you arrange letters, fonts, screw heads, the angle of your head, your imagination and how hard you squint. This will obviously encourage people to take liberties with the plates, which then allows the office to pull you over and fine you. It's a win/win and an obvious solution to our Government's colossal debt problem.
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European plates do not seem to have as many problems being camera-friendly; or is it just that their governments haven't cottoned on to the ready supply of money available through rigid policing of these scams?
I personally don't think it's got much to do with "denying criminals the use of the road"; given the way this government treats motorists it's simply another way of trying to cow us all into submission.
Incidentally; having had to stump up extra RFL for the last couple of years due to my Hyundai Coupe being registered sixteen days after the cutoff point, I can't help but feel a vicarious pleasure in seeing all our MP's whining about paying their ill-gotten gains back.
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I think its more that fact that their plates are standardised and therefore can't be tampered with... I sometimes wonder if it would be cheaper for this country to do the same rather than keep updating laws and getting the police to enforce them... Standardised plates would meen that police would have more time to do more useful things, not to mention stopping the Gov having to spend less time introducing new laws every 5 minutes...
Oh, but of course it won't happen as it would impinge on our personal freedom... < roll eyes >
Edited by b308 on 15/10/2009 at 10:19
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>What's the difference between 'retroflective', 'reflex-reflective' and good old reflective (or reflecting)?<
Well, does anyone actually know?
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Well does anyone actually know?
Does anyone care?
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Reflex reflective material is glass beads firmly approximately hemispherically embedded and bonded in a binder layer containing reflective pigment, individual beads having said reflective pigment arranged in cup-like fashion about the embedded portion of said beads, said structure being characterized in that the reflective pigment arranged about the said beads comprises specularly reflective nacreous pigment particle platelets having a maximum dimension which falls within the range of 8 to 30 microns and which is less than the diameter of said beads and having a thickness within the range of 25 to 200 millimicrons, the concentration of said nacreous pigment particle platelets being at least 15 percent by weight of the total solids in said binder layer.
Retroreflection (sometimes called retroflection) is used on road surfaces, road signs, vehicles, and clothing (large parts of the surface of special safety clothing, less on regular coats). When the headlights of a car illuminate a retroreflective surface, the reflected light is directed towards the car and its driver (rather than in all directions as with diffuse reflection). However, a pedestrian can see retroreflective surfaces in the dark only if there is a light source directly between them and the reflector (e.g., via a flashlight they carry) or directly behind them (e.g., via a car approaching from behind). "Cat's eyes" are a particular type of retroreflector embedded in the road surface and are used mostly in the UK and parts of the United States.
Corner reflectors are better at sending the light back to the source over long distances, while spheres are better at sending the light to a receiver somewhat off-axis from the source, as when the light from headlights is reflected into the driver's eyes.
Retroreflectors can be embedded in the road (level with the road surface), or they can be raised above the road surface. Raised reflectors are visible for very long distances (typically 0.5-1 kilometer or more), while sunken reflectors are visible only at very close ranges due to the higher angle required to properly reflect the light. Raised reflectors are generally not used in areas that regularly experience snow during winter, as passing snowplows can tear them off of the roadways. Stress on roadways caused by cars running over embedded objects also contributes to accelerated wear and pothole formation.
There are you glad you asked?
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I don't see the problem. Being a biker I have a legal plate for mot time and day to day plate for the rest of the year, it's only a five minute job to change.
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>What's the difference between 'retroflective' 'reflex-reflective' and good old reflective (or reflecting)?< Well does anyone actually know?
I didn't know, but I knew how to find out. It looks like they are designed to reflect back to the source.
A retroreflector (sometimes called a retroflector) is a device or surface that reflects light back to its source with a minimum scattering of light. An electromagnetic wave front is reflected back along a vector that is parallel to but opposite in direction from the wave's source. The device or surface's angle of incidence is greater than zero. This is unlike a planar mirror, which does so only if the mirror is exactly perpendicular to the wave front, having a zero angle of incidence.
A reflex reflecting device, comprising; a pair of transparent layers disposed one against the other, the facing surfaces of each of said layers having a multitude of cavities embossed therein, said cavities being closely spaced and having wall formations of irregular shape which are highly reflective to light, one of said layers including at least one cavity aligned with each of the cavities of the other layer to define a plurality of totally enclosed cavities, the surfaces of said totally enclosed cavities being highly reflective and shaped to focus light directed against the composited layers within said totally enclosed cavities and to reflex reflect the light back in the incident direction.
Edited by martint123 on 15/10/2009 at 12:53
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