Legal help needed please - Legal Pressed Alloy Number Plates

Legal help needed please - Legal Pressed Alloy Number Plates

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Discussion

UNCLE SILVIA

Original Poster:

317 posts

210 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Im a member of a local modified car club down here in Plymouth and Me, like lots of others, have bought some Pressed Alloy No plates from our local branch of Carnoisseur (National car styling chain).

I like them as they look a bit more in touch with the age of my 81 Corolla and others like them as they are the closest thing to "Euro" style plates that are deemed to be legal.

The plates are supplied to Carnoisseur by Dubmeister who are a well known VW specialist in the UK, and in turn the Alloy blanks used are send directly from Germany and are from the same manufacturers that supply the european wide used plates.

These plates are sold through both Carnoisseur and Dubmeister as "UK road legal plates" and contain all the relivent makers stamps, post codes and BS numbers!

http://www.dubmeister.co.uk/

Here is a pic of my own pressed plates on my car.......


As you can see the letter type and spacing is correct and in the bottom corners all the relivent information and BS numbers are stamped!


HOWEVER after all this, some of the people locally with these plates have been having problems with the police about them! There have been several times where people are getting pulled over and fines issued due to apparently "having non conforming number plates fitted", and even after showing the police officers documents stating that they are "UK Street Legal" they still issue the fines anyway!!!

The local Branch of Carnoisseur is looking into this, however they themselves (the supplier) have not been approached buy the police or the DVLA to conferm the legalitys of these plates!!??

Ive had the plates on my car for months without any problems and will continue to use them until I am officially told that they are not legal.

Here is the thread on my local car club........... http://www.street-stylers-southwest.co.uk/forum/sh...

Can anyone help with any advice on here please so I can relay it back to my local forum?

Cheers, Scott

Edited by UNCLE SILVIA on Thursday 20th November 11:42

Nigel Worc's

8,121 posts

188 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Bloody hell !

I'll be interested to see why the local boys in blue have an issue with those.

Anyone not paid the fine yet to see what happens ?

Nigel Worc's

8,121 posts

188 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Jesus wept, the war on motorists keeps on going !

Note: From 1st November 2008 we are prohibited from supplying showplates to UK customers with a plate containing a UK registration number.
Please contact us for further details

UNCLE SILVIA

Original Poster:

317 posts

210 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Nigel Worc's said:
Bloody hell !

I'll be interested to see why the local boys in blue have an issue with those.

Anyone not paid the fine yet to see what happens ?
I dont think the fine has been paid yet and the person in question is still asking for advice on the matter!!

UNCLE SILVIA

Original Poster:

317 posts

210 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Nigel Worc's said:
Jesus wept, the war on motorists keeps on going !

Note: From 1st November 2008 we are prohibited from supplying showplates to UK customers with a plate containing a UK registration number.
Please contact us for further details
These plates are NOT sold as show plates but as "UK ROAD LEGAL NUMBER PLATES"

The "SHOW PLATES" are contained in a seperate order form on the Dubmiester site!!

Nigel Worc's

8,121 posts

188 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Just checked where I get my plates from (nothing dodgy, I just like deciding how I will display my legal font number).

They seem to be still running

http://www.fancyplates.com/

UNCLE SILVIA

Original Poster:

317 posts

210 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Nigel Worc's said:
Just checked where I get my plates from (nothing dodgy, I just like deciding how I will display my legal font number).

They seem to be still running

http://www.fancyplates.com/
Be carefull........ MOST of the plates on there are deamed to be "SHOW PLATES"

Even a different colour border or logo can make a plate illigal!!

Edited by UNCLE SILVIA on Thursday 20th November 11:40

plasticpig

12,932 posts

225 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
That plate dosent look like they will pass BS AU 145d to me. They may be stamped with that but it looks like they will fail on the reflectivity test. IIRC there is only one manufacture of yellow reflective material that meets BS AU 145d and thats 3M.



Nigel Worc's

8,121 posts

188 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
UNCLE SILVIA said:
Nigel Worc's said:
Just checked where I get my plates from (nothing dodgy, I just like deciding how I will display my legal font number).

They seem to be still running

http://www.fancyplates.com/
Be carefull........ MOST of the plates on there are deamed to be "SHOW PLATES"

Even a different colour border or logo can make a plate illigal!!

Edited by UNCLE SILVIA on Thursday 20th November 11:40
I've been using them for years, I've had the borders and badges (even a slightly different font), and so far never had any issues.

I'm older though, and driving a more "regular" type of car, I don't seem to attract police interest as a rule

UNCLE SILVIA

Original Poster:

317 posts

210 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
plasticpig said:
That plate dosent look like they will pass BS AU 145d to me. They may be stamped with that but it looks like they will fail on the reflectivity test. IIRC there is only one manufacture of yellow reflective material that meets BS AU 145d and thats 3M.
The plates are fully reflective and are the same material used on all european pressed plates as they come from the same supplier in Germany!

Ive had lots of totally legal plastic plates made up over the years with the reflective material being made by lots of various materials suppliers!

Ive just looked at my HALFORDS made plates, which have to be totally legal (I know as I work there) and the reflective sheeting called NIKKALITE and is made by NIPPON CARBIDE INDUSTRIES CO, INC.

Edited by UNCLE SILVIA on Thursday 20th November 11:54

UpTheIron

3,996 posts

268 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
UNCLE SILVIA said:
The local Branch of Carnoisseur is looking into this, however they themselves (the supplier) have not been approached buy the police or the DVLA to conferm the legalitys of these plates!!??
But have Carnoisseur done anything to confirm their marketing claim that they are road legal?
UNCLE SILVIA said:
The plates are fully reflective and are the same material used on all european pressed plates as they come from the same supplier in Germany!
What meets the relevant standards in other European countries may not be of any relevance here.

UNCLE SILVIA

Original Poster:

317 posts

210 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
UpTheIron said:
UNCLE SILVIA said:
The local Branch of Carnoisseur is looking into this, however they themselves (the supplier) have not been approached buy the police or the DVLA to conferm the legalitys of these plates!!??
But have Carnoisseur done anything to confirm their marketing claim that they are road legal?
UNCLE SILVIA said:
The plates are fully reflective and are the same material used on all european pressed plates as they come from the same supplier in Germany!
What meets the relevant standards in other European countries may not be of any relevance here.
Im not defending Carnoisseur with this thread as im not 100% assured of the legalitys of these plates as of yet!
However, I am defending ourselves, the users of these plates, as why should we get fined due to being sold something we were told to be "COMPLETELY UK LEGAL" by a reputable national company?

Surely the fines should be directed to the suppliers or even the manufactures of these plates "IF" they are said to be Legal but "OFFICIALLY" deamed to be illigal!!??

peterguk V6 KWK

2,615 posts

217 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
UNCLE SILVIA said:
Surely the fines should be directed to the suppliers or even the manufactures of these plates "IF" they are said to be Legal but "OFFICIALLY" deamed to be illigal!!??
Why? If you fit them and use them on the public highway, you're the one at fault.

On the other hand, if it's also an offence to supply, that's a different matter.

Mill Wheel

6,149 posts

196 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Try Trading Standards for a case against Carnessiour - if they ARE legal, then Trading Standards should be able to rule - and then you have a case for overturning the numberplate issue with the BiB.

UNCLE SILVIA

Original Poster:

317 posts

210 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
peterguk V6 KWK said:
UNCLE SILVIA said:
Surely the fines should be directed to the suppliers or even the manufactures of these plates "IF" they are said to be Legal but "OFFICIALLY" deamed to be illigal!!??
Why? If you fit them and use them on the public highway, you're the one at fault.

On the other hand, if it's also an offence to supply, that's a different matter.
But if we are told that they are "COMPLETELY ROAD LEGAL" by a reputable company what else are we supposed to think??

If they are deamed to be illegal in the end surely thats false advetising on their behalf and we are the innocent partys??

For example........If you bought an E-marked headlight from a pattern parts supplier, would you still check it out to see if it really was still legal to use even though it has the E-mark on it?? Course you wouldnt, you would just fit it!

Well its the same with these plates as they have all the correct markings to make them legal and we were also told they were by the supplier! What more can we do??

Nigel Worc's

8,121 posts

188 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
I guess you have, but I'll ask anyway !

Have you tried talikng to the officers concerned, or if they are being total tts, their supervisory officers ?

UNCLE SILVIA

Original Poster:

317 posts

210 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Nigel Worc's said:
I guess you have, but I'll ask anyway !

Have you tried talikng to the officers concerned, or if they are being total tts, their supervisory officers ?
This is what happened at the time of the pulling......

45_CB - Street stylers said:
Since the start of november number plate laws have changed.... however I was still lead to believe these ones were legal - police are starting to bring a system were points can be given

I showed the traffic cop the BS number, the name and postcode printed where they were made and that there reflective and sold /advertised to me as legal blah blah blah and he basically said there not a flush plate and the only pressed plates that are legal are for pre 1972 vehicles.

Your allowed a normal plate or one with a GB sign on the left hand side... NOTHING ELSE

He suggested I go back to carnoisseur and demand my money back on them to pay my fine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He didnt get a fine then as the police officer got a call out, but has since been pulled again and the fine given!

He has stated all the facts about the plate to the Police but they dont want to know as of yet!
He has contacted Carnoisseur and they have shown him documents they have stating the legality of the plate to which I believe he now has a copy!

Admittidly he does have a prominant number plate of "45 CB" but it is a legal private number with correct spacing which he has had for years!

Edited by UNCLE SILVIA on Thursday 20th November 12:48

Nigel Worc's

8,121 posts

188 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Then you'll just have to contest it.

I wish the Police were more helpful these days.

Do you have a local traffic unit you could approach ?

herewego

8,814 posts

213 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
If they turn out to be illegal and you are fined then I suppose you could reclaim the fine from the supplier, maybe take them to the county court.

Nigel Worc's

8,121 posts

188 months

Thursday 20th November 2008
quotequote all
Sorry, I just thought.....its so obvious.

Either a local mot station or vosa depot, that'll sort it one way or the other for you.