Plates

[Lewis07-Hitman]

Planning on puting a smaller plate on the front of my Ro. Having looked at the rules, it seems very unclear as to whether this will attract the attention of plod. Anyone had any experience?

[bathcv8]

Yes they do attract plod. Best to make sure you get them made to exact DVLA rules and make sure you have a print out of these rules in your glove box at all times. I spent about 40 minutes explaining the rules (which I didn't have on me) to plod who didn't know any of it...but was enough of a distraction for him not to give me an on the spot fine.

[Lewis07-Hitman]

Cheers man. Point noted.

[rmmackfc]

Depends on the amount of characters TBH.
My plate only has 5 characters and is shortened in width (legal).
There has to be a set distance from the edge of the end characters to the side/top and bottom of the plate.
My plate fits perfectly and looks better IMO as the mount is slightly smaller than the plate now.

[Lewis07-Hitman]

I've got a 5 character plate too. The wife's had it fitted today so have to wait until I get home later. will let you know what I think.

[Monnington]

Depends how small you go! I've had a small front plate for about a year with no worries. Always run small plates on the bike without to many hassles.

I think you'd be very unlucky to get stopped just for that, but they may well mention it if you get stopped for another reason..

[bathcv8]

Here you go. This is from the DVLA pdf caled displayofnumberplates.pdf. The thing is not referred to often otherwise they would have run the spell checker on it.

Display of Vehicle Registration Marks on Imported Vehicles (which have arestricted space for a standard sized number plate)Certain imported vehicles may be permitted to display number plates with smaller characters if:

1 The vehicle does not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval AND

2 The vehicle's construction/design cannot accomodate standard size number plates

Specifications for smaller sized plates (for certain imported vehicles)
Character Height
64mm
Character Width
44mm
Character Stroke
10mm
Space between characters
10mm

[gts029]

5 digit plate / narrower width here too.

Never had any issues probably because the digits are correct size and shape etc so to the casual observer it looks legal.

My experience with bikes and cars is you tend to be okay if you don't take the p**s

[Magic919]

Lewis07-Hitman said:

I've got a 5 character plate too. The wife's had it fitted today so have to wait until I get home later. will let you know what I think.

You can legally do 14" plate with 5 digit, a touch less if it has a 1 in it.

[Fluffsri/cv8]

I had a plate which came with the car that fitted into the recess on the front bumper. I was pulled within a week of owning the car. The policeman was cool about it and seemed more interested in the car, he just gave me a producer.

[J. J.]

We've talked about this before, without coming to any real conclusion.
I too have a short plate for 5 characters , but having researched it, am convinced that there is no minimum (or maximum) size to the plate, provided that the numbers/letters and spacings are of the correct size (yes ok, that does give you a minimum size.....but you get my drift) - look at the irregular yellow plate fitted to the rear of many Rover 75's. I think that the problem was confounded some months ago when the Old Bill seemed to be running a campaign on illegal plates, and that many of them didn't know what they were on about - my son tells me that one of his friends got in an argument with a policewoman who insisted his plates were illegal, until she was corrected by a policeman.

[NEILDOCKRELL]

hi
I have a small plate on my CV8 with the full 7 characters and have had no interest shown in it at all !!

Must admit I have expected it though

[Gas_Man]

I have a small 6 digit plate on the front of the car, and a standard BS rear plate. The only issue I had was with an MOT (see other thread), and not with any police officer. All since resolved. I also carry the DVLA website printout in my glove box... just in case.

[Well_Fans]

full 7 digit reg on my plate that fits the recess, came with car and been through 2 mots and had loads of cops look at it but never been stopped/queried about it.

[Lewis07-Hitman]

The smaller plate looks so much better than standard size. Don't reckon most old bill would even notice the difference though. The letters are not that much smaller to look at (only 5 characters)but cos it sits in the recess of the bumper it changes the whole front end in my view. Or am I going over the top?!

[Lewis07-Hitman]

The smaller plate looks so much better than standard size. Don't reckon most old bill would even notice the difference though. The letters are not that much smaller to look at (only 5 characters)but cos it sits in the recess of the bumper it changes the whole front end in my view. Or am I going over the top?!

[redbarron84]

Where can I get small plates made up? I fancy one on the front of mine once I get my new personalised one.....but all the places i've been to only create the full size legal ones.

[Tempy]

Try here: www.fancyplates.com/

They were approx £30 delivered. You can specify the size, so I measure the recess in the bumper. Front:

Rear:

[Magic919]

redbarron84 said:

Where can I get small plates made up? I fancy one on the front of mine once I get my new personalised one.....but all the places i've been to only create the full size legal ones.

I got my smaller (legal) plates from here http://www.craigsplates.com/ They do most things.

[Demon Hill]

I have a 5 digit number plate and I also bought mine from Craigs plates. It fits nicely on the front valance of the Monaro.