Ask Honest John Question of the Week: Who 'owns' a registration plate?

Dear HonestJohn,

"I have noticed that registration plates are actually owned by the Secretary of State and only merely nominated to vehicles for identification purposes. Surely if a person owns a vehicle but does not own that number plate, any fine which is applied to that number plate should be charged to the owner of the plate which is the Secretary of State, not the vehicle owner who just merely displays the plate?"

- RD

Dear RD,

It is correct to say that the Secretary of State owns all registration plates issued in the UK and the registered keeper of the vehicle has a limited entitlement to display this number.

However, it is important to remember that the registration plate's purpose is to identify the vehicle for the purposes of taxes, insurance and detection in respect of applying road laws, parking and zones with specific regulations such as congestion and low emission restrictions.

A vehicle can be in breach of any applied regulations whether it is fitted with a registration plate or not, but a registration plate on its own could not be guilty of a parking offence or breaching emissions regulations.

In the event of a vehicle being captured by a speed camera exceeding the speed limit for example, a Notice of Intended Prosecution is sent to the registered keeper, who is required to provide the name and address of the driver, whether that is the registered keeper themselves or a third party.

In instances such as these, responsibility lies with the driver of the vehicle at the time of the offence, not necessarily the registered keeper, nor the Secretary of State...