Are 3D Carbon Domed Registration Plates legal?
Discussion
Can anyone help please?
I was out taking the wife shopping when I got pulled over by Essex's finest in their Mitsubishi Evo X for the usual checks, no problem I thought as I've got nothing to hide and the car is completely legal and insured, taxed etc. The officer was polite and took my details, went back to his car and then came back to tell me he's going to give me a ticket for my illegal plates. He claimed the 3D carbon letters on my reg. plates are not legal and so he gave me a £60 fine for them, warned me about losing the private plate and being issued with a Q plate by the DVLA next time and then sent me on my way. As the wife was in the car I remained polite and just nodded and accepted what he had to say, even though I was fuming inside.
Now the plates were purchased from a company who claim they are perfectly legal, so who is right? There's the usual BS mark and there's no dodgy slogan or logo so the only issue was the actual lettering. I've been through three MOTs and have been pulled over several times over the years by the police and the the plates have never been an issue. The officer mentioned that only the flat single font that could be seen on cars going past is allowed, but I know Halfords sell carbon fibre and other styles of lettering for their plates so he's wrong on that one.
Just in case anyone is wondering, here's what the plates look like:
I was out taking the wife shopping when I got pulled over by Essex's finest in their Mitsubishi Evo X for the usual checks, no problem I thought as I've got nothing to hide and the car is completely legal and insured, taxed etc. The officer was polite and took my details, went back to his car and then came back to tell me he's going to give me a ticket for my illegal plates. He claimed the 3D carbon letters on my reg. plates are not legal and so he gave me a £60 fine for them, warned me about losing the private plate and being issued with a Q plate by the DVLA next time and then sent me on my way. As the wife was in the car I remained polite and just nodded and accepted what he had to say, even though I was fuming inside.
Now the plates were purchased from a company who claim they are perfectly legal, so who is right? There's the usual BS mark and there's no dodgy slogan or logo so the only issue was the actual lettering. I've been through three MOTs and have been pulled over several times over the years by the police and the the plates have never been an issue. The officer mentioned that only the flat single font that could be seen on cars going past is allowed, but I know Halfords sell carbon fibre and other styles of lettering for their plates so he's wrong on that one.
Just in case anyone is wondering, here's what the plates look like:
If carbon fibre lettering is illegal, why are Halfords selling them, flat carbon fibre lettering that is, to the public on 'road legal' plates? Surely selling dodgy plates as legal ones would see them losing there license to print plates fairly quickly and possibly receiving a large fine? I don't see a large company taking a risk like that unless they were sure.
OnTheOverrun said:
147GTA said:
If carbon fibre lettering is illegal, why are Halfords selling them, flat carbon fibre lettering that is, to the public on 'road legal' plates? Surely selling dodgy plates as legal ones would see them losing there license to print plates fairly quickly and possibly receiving a large fine? I don't see a large company taking a risk like that unless they were sure.
I haven't seen the Halfords ones, do you have a link?Puff the magic.. said:
147GTA said:
If carbon fibre lettering is illegal, why are Halfords selling them, flat carbon fibre lettering that is, to the public on 'road legal' plates? Surely selling dodgy plates as legal ones would see them losing there license to print plates fairly quickly and possibly receiving a large fine? I don't see a large company taking a risk like that unless they were sure.
Perhaps the law only applies to displaying them on vehicles rather than supplying them.Mr2Mike said:
Puff the magic.. said:
You have characters with a pattern on and that isn't allowed. See:
Characters on a number plate can be 3D, providing they meet all the other requirements, but honeycomb or other background patterns are not allowed.
In the OP's case the background is a plain yellow colour with no patterns on it, how does this rule apply?Characters on a number plate can be 3D, providing they meet all the other requirements, but honeycomb or other background patterns are not allowed.
Edited by 147GTA on Sunday 9th May 08:55
C5RagTop said:
The type of lettering on your plate is, unfortunately, illegal. I'd guess that your plate manufacturer hasn't put their name and postcode on the plates? (another legal requirement).
Both variations sold by Halfords are perfectly legal.
All the necessary legal markings are on the plates, the spacing is all correct, the font is the correct size etc., it is just the type of lettering used that is in question. Both variations sold by Halfords are perfectly legal.
OnTheOverrun said:
Mr2Mike said:
C5RagTop said:
The type of lettering on your plate is, unfortunately, illegal.
Can you explain why, i.e. which particular bit of legislation outlaws this style of lettering?Mill Wheel said:
OnTheOverrun said:
I've no idea - when I went to Halfords this morning to get some tar spot remover they hadn't got any similar domed CF plates on offer at my local one.
FWIW, I personally don't have a problem with your plates, but I can see why having stripes where they should just be black according to the regs could be construed as not adhering to the letter of the law but I would've thought a warning to change them rather than a £60 fine might be more appropriate. Better to save the fines for people actually trying to make their numbers look like something else IMHO.
It's just two different shades of black. Nothing in the reg.s says anything against this, just the prohibition of a patterned BACKGROUND.FWIW, I personally don't have a problem with your plates, but I can see why having stripes where they should just be black according to the regs could be construed as not adhering to the letter of the law but I would've thought a warning to change them rather than a £60 fine might be more appropriate. Better to save the fines for people actually trying to make their numbers look like something else IMHO.
Nothing in the reg.s says 3D EFFECT, just 3D, so they don't fall down on that either.
Thanks for the responses so far guys.
OnTheOverrun said:
All of the plate manufacturers I've googled agree that these 3D domed plates are show only. If you can find a plate manufacturer that states they are road legal, I'd be happy to view the link.
Demon Plates:http://www.demonplates.com/about.php#nogo
The last paragraph on "Text Styles" states "...As well as offering the usual "flat" text style in the Manadatory font, Demon plates also offers 3 other, completely legal, text styles..."
ajstephe said:
I don't understand why people want to alter the standard plate on the car to 3d ones or different spaced ones. It draws attention (wanted or unwanted) to yourself and the car and can result in a tug from the bib and a fine.
My advice to motorists is just leave it as standard
The car needed new plates made up for the private registration that was purchased for the car, so the standard plates were not just modified for cosmetic reasons. A 147 GTA is not a car that "blends" in sadly so there's been plenty of tugs but there's never been a problem in the past and not once has the plate ever been questioned!My advice to motorists is just leave it as standard
I've just been to Halfords and they've got four different types of lettering, all flat but only one is a solid black: (Apologies for the poor image but I only had my iphone)
Shockingly I was served by a very helpful lady who was adament they were all completely legal and Halfords will only sell road legal plates, provided you supply the correct documentation, otherwise they could obviously be sued by someone if they got a ticket from the police for a plate sold to them by Halfords.
Shockingly I was served by a very helpful lady who was adament they were all completely legal and Halfords will only sell road legal plates, provided you supply the correct documentation, otherwise they could obviously be sued by someone if they got a ticket from the police for a plate sold to them by Halfords.
Edited by 147GTA on Monday 10th May 17:40
Tiggsy said:
Heres how you dont get nicked for plates.....go look at ten other cars in your street. Find the style that most people have (in most decent streets, everyone will have the same style....rougher/chavier the area the more variations you'll see) - go a and get plates that look like the most common one.
If there are so many variations that no one style is the obvious one to pick...move.
Don't take this the wrong way but while I appreciate the advice I'm not confused about what plates to get but I do want to know whether the plates the ticket was issued for are actually legal or not. If there are so many variations that no one style is the obvious one to pick...move.
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