numberplates

hi, how does everyone else get on with "show plates" fitted to their cars?? i got pulled by the police last night for my black and silver classic british numberplates that id *ahem* left on from deva dubs show…
i was let off with a warning   how many people have illegal plates fitted to daily drivers??  iv done about 1200miles since i fitted mine.  apparently its a £60 fine for them????!

Yeah its £30 for each plate fine, get caught a could of times and they can confiscate your number plate which means your car would have to be re registered on a Q plate and you'd have to pay for the privilege. Pretty sure thats what ive heard before! I've not got them on mine but a few mates have and like you some have bin lucky and police have let them off others got a 60 quid fine

Round East Lancs they are pretty hot on them. A mate of mine got pulled twice by the same officer! He learnt the lesson then!!

I saw quite a few tickets on cars at DubFreeze a couple of years ago.

All correctly reported by Sedge.  :wink:

ive run with german plates on since i bought the car and been pulled by the t5 numerous times and the plates have never been mentioned. now the black n silver plates are pretty obviously not the legal ones as the mk1 wasnt even in production when that style plate was discontinued so doesnt surprise me you got pulled with them.

Going on from what dano said i was at e38 a couple of years ago and because the gate to the site was open all day and nite it was classed as public highway so they went round all the camping fields slapping a £60 fine on every car parked up with pressed plates!!

thats nice - wake up with a bad head and a 60 quid fine!!!!
hmmmm I think its worth the 60quid risk tho, i think they look really good.

It's a £60 non-endorsable offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988. Never heard of anyone getting their plates confiscated tho. That must be an extreme case!

When I'm out and about I like to use a thing called discretion and words of advice, I tend to save my tickets for the people who drive while on their mobile phones!

Reevo said

It's a £60 non-endorsable offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988. Never heard of anyone getting their plates confiscated tho. That must be an extreme case!

When I'm out and about I like to use a thing called discretion and words of advice, I tend to save my tickets for the people who drive while on their mobile phones!

believe me they Can and DO do it, you've beeen warned!!!!  :wink:   :cry:

Dano said

Reevo said

It's a £60 non-endorsable offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988. Never heard of anyone getting their plates confiscated tho. That must be an extreme case!

When I'm out and about I like to use a thing called discretion and words of advice, I tend to save my tickets for the people who drive while on their mobile phones!

believe me they Can and DO do it, you've beeen warned!!!!  :wink:   :cry:

the other half got pulled on hers a couple of months ago, nothing too daft with the plate, correct letters, sizes etc but was in the format "LnnnLL L" instead of "Lnnn LLL") got a £60 fine and a few weeks later a letter thru from dvla saying to provide proof including photographic that correct plate was now on car and giving her about a month (i think, might have been 14 days) to do so, about 2 days later she got another letter saying she hadn't complied with the notice and the number had to be surrendered, obviously this was a clerical error on behaf of DVLA and soon cleared up but if she is ever caught again with incorrect plates for that number they will take without notice so as Dano say's they can and do.

Its true but its for a slightly different thing. Some people have a dodgy personal plate which only reads properly with wrong spacing or dodgy-misformed characters, etc. We're talking about black & white plates or German plates.

This may help….

Pre-January 1973

Vehicles first registered before January the first 1973 have the option of using the white on black or silver on black number plates. These are made either from pressed metal or plastic digits riveted on a metal plate. Occasionally an adhesive black vinyl background with white letters is more suitable.

Post- January 1973

Number Plate characters can be either 89mm by 64mm or 79mm by 57mm gaps between characters must be 13mm for the taller characters and 11mm for the shorter. The gap between the two "parts" of the number plate must be 38mm ( 89mm tall characters) and 33mm for the shorter ones. No definitive font is given but styled characters ( for example italics) are forbidden. Note these regulations govern number plates FITTED after Jan 1973 but before September 2001, they do not relate to the year of the car.

Post September 2001

Characters must be 79mm high and 50mm wide with a stroke of 14mm.Inter-character gap is 11mm and the space between the two parts of the registration number is 33mm.The only font allowed is based on the "Charles Wright" font.


Once again these regulations apply to number plates FITTED after September 2001 .So your car could be 1974 but it would still need to comply IF THE NUMBER PLATES ARE CHANGED.


It has never been legal to use screws etc to alter the appearance of the characters on the plate and the only other option when buying them is the EU emblem with a national flag e.g. Saltire.

To make all this enforceable every number plate suppliers must be registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and must show his name and post code on each number plate he supplies.

In addition you must supply proof of I.D.when buying plates ( preferrably a photocard driving licence ) and also proof that the number is yours( V5 registration document ( log book) , V750 (pink) or V778 (green) certificate for the registration number, V11 vehicle licence renewal, or V948).

The supplier must keep records of all the above and make them available to the police if requested


A bit heavy reading but it tells you most of what you should need to ask.  I could do Act and Section too …. but that WOULD be really geeky!!!!!  

Had black and silver pressed plates on my cabriolet and had enough of being pulled so replaced with pressed UK font metal plates.

As £20 ebay jobbies, they are tech show plates as dont have the British Standard mark in the corner, but other than that they are legal size etc. Not been pulled about em since fitted. Did get stopped as front one was propped on window, but not for the actual plates. £20 well spent really.

BORING!!!  we dont need all the technical guys. they look good. so rock em untill they cost ya….

Everyone knows the rules, its just that some people choose to ignore them and mess around with spacing or German or black plates etc etc. And everyone knows "show plates" are not for the roads. Its quite deliberate, people do it BECAUSE its a little bit naughty, etc, not because they're ignorant of the law.

If you're going to flout the law, don't get caught on something boring and been done 1000x like German Plates or black ones, etc.

cuthbert said

BORING!!!  we dont need all the technical guys

Some members DO need the technical because it is of interest to them NOT to fall foul of the police.

Hasn't being BORING!!!!, ignorant or indifferent of the law placed you in a position of disadvantage before? :doh:

Learning by mistakes is what lifes about and thats why my mate no longer has his fixed to his car.

 :clap:

i've not been pulled for mine yet but dont get about so much,just work and back