Number plate legalities

Author
Discussion

V8forweekends

2,481 posts

123 months

Friday 31st July 2015
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flemke said:
Why do you need as much reflectivity as poss on front plates?
Rear plates are illuminated (by industrial strength Chav-special retina burning Leds around here) front ones aren't

Roo

11,503 posts

206 months

Friday 31st July 2015
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shakotan said:
There's nothing 'illegal' regarding pressed plates, as long as the font/size/marks are all in order.
I didn't think anyone had had them tested to BSAU to prove that.

Red Devil

13,055 posts

207 months

Friday 31st July 2015
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flemke said:
Registration plate regimen in the rest of the world including France being different from that in UK.

The concept that you can make up a reg plate in a garden shed out of a few bits of plastic still blows my mind.

In every civilised country, and the rest, the state makes plates from stamped metal which as a result are exceedingly difficult to modify or clone.

We are told that insurance fraud is a major problem in UK. Is there any reason why we should not have state-supplied reg plates similar to those used by the rest of humanity, which does not have a plate cloning problem?
Ah, you want to inflict another stealth tax on us all. redcard

Any government monopoly is likely to see a marked escalation in cost. Without any competition they can pick whatever figure to charge us that they feel like.

flemke said:
AFAIK, the UK is the only country with different colour plates front and rear. All the other nations of the world are surviving with their pathetic monotone plate backgrounds. Why can't we do the same? Oh, I forgot, this is the country where grown men wear pink socks.
France had the same white front/yellow rear as the UK prior to 2009. The change coincided with the new format (to LL-NNN-LL from NNNN-LL-NN).
http://www.french-number-plates.com/french-plate-i...

flemke

22,864 posts

236 months

Sunday 2nd August 2015
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Sushifiend said:
flemke said:
I have searched long and hard to work out exactly why the geniuses think that we need different colours front and rear. No evidence has come forth.
Not evidence granted, but the reasoning seems fairly clear to me. The yellow light reflected back from a following driver's headlights is less likely to dazzle or damage night vision than white light reflected back. I presume the dazzle factor is the reason I remember a majority of cars in France used to have yellow headlights.

So the question is - why not have yellow plates front and rear? We don't tend to follow cars which are driving in reverse at night (I don't tend to do it during the day either!) and white front plates reflects the maximum amount of light which may be necessary to read a plate when the car's own headlights are on.

Basically, you need as much reflectivity as possible on front plates, while reducing the dazzle from rear plates.
That may be the reasoning employed by those who dictated these rules. I have heard of no other. Whether their reasoning is reasonable is I think another matter.

Having driven, as I am sure you have done, in many other countries where front and rear plates are the same colour, usually white, I have yet to encounter a rear reg plate that dazzled me. Then again, when within a couple of hundred metres of the vehicle ahead, I'm not dazzling its driver with my main beams, either. Again, I am sure you are the same.

Old Top Gear piece on yellow headlamps in France:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vArQgTQVYcw



HantsRat

2,369 posts

107 months

Monday 3rd August 2015
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NeilRoss said:
I received a NIP about 4-5 years ago displaying F3ISTY incorrectly spaced. It was an ANPR camera van. 60 quid fine. No points. Obviously clear enough for the ANPR to pick up, so not quite sure what the issue was Vs some far more questionable plates i have seen... Irony there being the APNRS probably can't even get close to reading the properly dodgy numbers - obviously these drivers will only get it if plod is having a bored moment out on patrol.
The issue was it was not correctly spaced... As you just admitted.

NeilRoss

55 posts

219 months

Sunday 9th August 2015
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HantsRat said:
The issue was it was not correctly spaced... As you just admitted.
The point is plates that mis-represent or are unreadable should be more the legal concern.

Slidingpillar

761 posts

135 months

Sunday 9th August 2015
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NeilRoss said:
The point is plates that mis-represent or are unreadable should be more the legal concern.
Really? So our boys in blue have to decide if PEN15 is legal according to the rules and then apply your criteria? Much, much easier to apply the rules and leave it at that.

PEN15 really is a real numberplate, it escaped! PEN 1 S was never issued for fairly obvious reasons.

herewego

8,814 posts

212 months

Sunday 9th August 2015
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NeilRoss said:
HantsRat said:
The issue was it was not correctly spaced... As you just admitted.
The point is plates that mis-represent or are unreadable should be more the legal concern.
Fiddling with number plates should be very, very, very low on your list of "things to do when I get a car". In fact it shouldn't even be on there.

Edited by herewego on Sunday 9th August 15:33

NeilRoss

55 posts

219 months

Sunday 9th August 2015
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Slidingpillar said:
Really? So our boys in blue have to decide if PEN15 is legal according to the rules and then apply your criteria? Much, much easier to apply the rules and leave it at that.

PEN15 really is a real numberplate, it escaped! PEN 1 S was never issued for fairly obvious reasons.
It is a clearly legal suffix plate to anyone in authority. Look it up..