Rear Numberplate - do you clean or keep dirty?

[g3org3y]

We're at the time of the year where the 'dirty bum' threads appear in GG.

My own Touring is looking very dirty especially from behind and I have no intention of cleaning it (lazy). This dirt has of course made the rear plate somewhat tricky to read too.

I'm sure there are others in the same situation (the photo thread confirms this).

Do you bother to clean the rear plate (and front too)? Or do you just leave it/them dirty?

Is it actually an offence (there must be something about obscuring numberplates)?

FWIW, I'm not cleaning mine. If it means a Gatso can't identify my car well that is a risk I will have to take.

[surveyor]

It gets to a stage where I clean the rear lights so that they can be seen. Numberplate will get a clean also.

Front lights will get a clean also, so that I can see.... - and modern wash wipe without the wipers is rubbish.

[eybic]

I've acquired a new runaround and plan for it to be the first car I never clean. I have heard of people being fined for an obscured rear plate be it by a towbar or dirt.

[Boydie88]

I'd assume it would be a £60 fine for an obscured plate. Had I not given mine a wipe last week it would be unreadable by now going by the rest of the car.

[Monkeylegend]

g3org3y said:

FWIW, I'm not cleaning mine. If it means a Gatso can't identify my car well that is a risk I will have to take.

It could also mean that you cannot identify another car if needed.

Waiting for the "Help" thread Some nasty person hit my car and drove off and I couldn't read the number plate because it was dirty, what can I do about it?

You wouldn't drive a car without a number plate so why with one that cannot be read?

[GazV70R]

I've got into the habit of giving the plate and rear lights a quick wipe when they are horrendous.

Not only does it stop hassle from plod, if someone rear ended me in daylight because my rear lights were obscured by dirt, I'd feel somewhat foolish.

[williredale]

Boydie88 said:

I'd assume it would be a £60 fine for an obscured plate. Had I not given mine a wipe last week it would be unreadable by now going by the rest of the car.

Clean your lights as well next time!

[Captainawesome]

You can indeed be fined for an obscured number plate. A few years ago the police took to the habit of hanging around outside the ship yard I was working in which was a complete quagmire of mud and fining all the works vans coming out.

[Toaster Pilot]

Boydie88 said:

I'd assume it would be a £60 fine for an obscured plate. Had I not given mine a wipe last week it would be unreadable by now going by the rest of the car.

Likely to be a fine for obscuring your lights too.

I drive an absolute heap of a shed, proper falling to bits job but the plate and lights are always clean and fully functional - never get any attention from plod as a result.

[Graham]

williredale said:

Boydie88 said:

I'd assume it would be a £60 fine for an obscured plate. Had I not given mine a wipe last week it would be unreadable by now going by the rest of the car.

Clean your lights as well next time!

indeed i love the irony there, you've cleaned the plate so plod can id you, but not bothered to clean the lights which could stop someone running into the back of you...


unless your just half way through and are about to clean the lights... I clean my lights then the plate if i can be bothered

[McWigglebum4th]

Apparently a good spray of WD40 over the back of the car makes it somewhat of a dirt magnet which might make the rear plate difficult to read

[Crow555]

My MOT is typically in the middle of January. One particular year I had to attend the MOT when there was a lot of snow about. I did my best to wash the car (standing in freezing temps wasn't my idea of a good time), grit the road where I'd washed it (so it wouldn't freeze over before it dried) and head off to the MOT.

Now the MOT centre is about 2 miles from my house and my number plate, while still largely visible and legible, had turned from sunflower yellow to slightly browny-yellow due to the road-salt infused slush on the roads.

Needless to say, the MOT chap must've been having a really bad day because he gave me an advisory for it. Apparently, you're supposed to get out every couple of hundred metres, clean the lights and numberplates and carry on.

Seeing cars that were so dirty on the way home that you couldn't tell what marque they were let along the numberplate, just rubbed salt into the wounds.

[Boydie88]

Toaster Pilot said:

Likely to be a fine for obscuring your lights too.

I drive an absolute heap of a shed, proper falling to bits job but the plate and lights are always clean and fully functional - never get any attention from plod as a result.

Yeah I forgot about them the morning I cleaned the plate and front lights and only realised when I took this pic how bad the back of the car has got. Haven't seen the car in daylight for nearly 2 weeks now given working hours and being away at the weekend. Tested them at the time and they were ok - they are now cleaned though.

[Krikkit]

Crow555 said:

Now the MOT centre is about 2 miles from my house and my number plate, while still largely visible and legible, had turned from sunflower yellow to slightly browny-yellow due to the road-salt infused slush on the roads.

It sounds like he was being a bit anal, but couldn't you have taken a wet cloth down to the MOT centre with you and wiped the lights and plates before presenting the keys?

[Crow555]

Krikkit said:

It sounds like he was being a bit anal, but couldn't you have taken a wet cloth down to the MOT centre with you and wiped the lights and plates before presenting the keys?

Could've done but I didn't think the minutest amount of grime picked up in that short distance would've been that big of a deal. Then again, I truthfully hasn't thought about it, I just like presenting a clean(ish!) car for MOT.

[10penceparalyzed]

I got pulled couple of years ago, and had a friendly word telling me to clean the plate, or may face a fine, it was unreadable in all honestly but working in the area I do it only takes about a day to achieve in the winter time.

[Toaster Pilot]

Krikkit said:

It sounds like he was being a bit anal, but couldn't you have taken a wet cloth down to the MOT centre with you and wiped the lights and plates before presenting the keys?

When I'm getting a car MOTed and no other work done (service etc) I usually do this and check the lights, top up the screen wash etc in the garage car park

[Six Fiend]

Daily routine in my van driving days was clean lights and plates. Takes a minute.

[billzeebub]

However dirty the car, I always make a point of cleaning windscreen, lights and NumberPlate (in that order of priority)

[folos]

Always clean, bit of a mare in work when the bus washes pack up in the cold. Having to reach up about 9ft with a newspaper to wipe off the plates with freezing hands is a pain :/