Fine for a dirty number plate?

[cheesesliceking]

supermono said:

I deliberately left my van plate unreadable like this for about a year before I was stopped and made to clean it in front of the coppa. Nothing to pay.

Amazing.

[donkmeister]

Driving the entire length of France I noticed that petrol stations in warmer parts had squeegees in buckets of soapy water at every pump for washing piles of exploded bugs off the windscreen.
I would vote in favour of a law that no filling station may sell any fuel unless they had a working free tyre inflator and fresh buckets of soapy water to clean windows and numberplates. That way, no one is ever more than a tankful away from a convenient point to check their tyres and clean their numberplates.
It wouldn't stop people ignoring these basic items, but it would help and remove an excuse.
Plus it pisses me off when I pay £80 for fuel, drive to the inflator and the bd thing is broken.

[vanordinaire]

V10 SPM said:

BertBert said:

That's complete rubbish. There are no weather conditions that change your clean plate into an unreadable plate within a few miles.

Actually it's entirely possible. With a flat back and number plate below the bumper the aerodynamics cause this to happen very quickly.

Last year, there were major works (new railway construction) next to the A7 between the Scottish Borders and Edinburgh. In spite of some efforts by the contractors, there was a lot of mud on the road for a 40 mile stretch. Even if a car was freshly washed at the start of the route, the numberplate could easily be obscured by the end. The local traffic police made a point of patrolling this section of the route and stopped quite a number of cars and issued fixed penalty notices. There were a few complaints made but the police refused to backtrack.

[Raine Man]

supermono said:

I deliberately left my van plate unreadable like this for about a year before I was stopped and made to clean it in front of the coppa. Nothing to pay.

Surely though if someone nicks off with your van it is going to be harder to track using ANPR?

[sim72]

BertBert said:

That's complete rubbish. There are no weather conditions that change your clean plate into an unreadable plate within a few miles.

My daily snotter is a Mk4 Golf GTI (well known for this problem) and my daily commute is about 14 miles, about 5 on a fast dual carriageway and then around 7 along a B-road that is quite wide and quick but that also has agricultural vehicles deposit various ste all over it on a regular basis. My rear numberplate can go from clean to semi-unreadable in a single trip to work and back. I keep a packet of wet wipes in the car to clean it (and my rear lights) if it gets too bad.

[donkmeister]

sim72 said:

My daily snotter is a Mk4 Golf GTI (well known for this problem) and my daily commute is about 14 miles, about 5 on a fast dual carriageway and then around 7 along a B-road that is quite wide and quick but that also has agricultural vehicles deposit various ste all over it on a regular basis. My rear numberplate can go from clean to semi-unreadable in a single trip to work and back. I keep a packet of wet wipes in the car to clean it (and my rear lights) if it gets too bad.

I really don't get this... I used to drive a Vauxhall Vectra estate around rural Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire in all seasons, plus the m25, and across Europe, and over to Wales and Cornwall. A brick-shaped car, in all weather and on gritted roads, 15k miles per year, washed once per year. I never had this problem. Yet others get it after half an hour on a damp road.
Is it an aerodynamics issue (for better or worse) or more coincidental with the usage cycle? Do these VW golfs just happen to be driven by open-cast coal miners?

[donkmeister]

(Thats an honest question, btw. I realise the tone may come across incorrectly! )

[TooMany2cvs]

donkmeister said:

Is it an aerodynamics issue (for better or worse) or more coincidental with the usage cycle?

Yep, it's fine-detail aerodynamics. A low-pressure area can be left behind the back of the car, into which damp and muck is sucked off the road surface and swirled around, liberally coating the back of the car.

VW are old hands at this - I had a few Mk3 Golfs back in the day, and they were abysmal, too. The slightest hint of a damp road surface needed the back wiper on. You'd think they'd learn.

[sim72]

TooMany2cvs said:

Yep, it's fine-detail aerodynamics. A low-pressure area can be left behind the back of the car, into which damp and muck is sucked off the road surface and swirled around, liberally coating the back of the car.

VW are old hands at this - I had a few Mk3 Golfs back in the day, and they were abysmal, too. The slightest hint of a damp road surface needed the back wiper on. You'd think they'd learn.

Absolutely, and the Mk3 was actually better because the numberplate was mounted high. The Mk4 plate is mounted low and therefore gets first digs on all the st sucked up by the vortex behind the car.

[TooMany2cvs]

sim72 said:

TooMany2cvs said:

Yep, it's fine-detail aerodynamics. A low-pressure area can be left behind the back of the car, into which damp and muck is sucked off the road surface and swirled around, liberally coating the back of the car.

VW are old hands at this - I had a few Mk3 Golfs back in the day, and they were abysmal, too. The slightest hint of a damp road surface needed the back wiper on. You'd think they'd learn.

Absolutely, and the Mk3 was actually better because the numberplate was mounted high. The Mk4 plate is mounted low and therefore gets first digs on all the st sucked up by the vortex behind the car.

You can imagine what the back of the white GTi looked like when it went back to the rental firm - 12k over winter, and I never washed the hateful sheep of hit once.

[leefee]

Lots of rain, long muddy track, lots of miles....