Historic status = Silver & black plates.

[mgtony]

Someone a while back mentioned that the use of silver and black number plates could be used on cars post 73 as they became tax/rfl/ved free.
Most including myself presumed someone had misinterpreted what as said, or the person saying it had got it wrong.

So a bit of a discussion here on an MG site:

http://www.mgexp.com/phorum/read.php?1,3060302

It got mentioned again and I've just found this that seems to agree that it is now legal:

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/general-news...

[aeropilot]

Previously, only vehicles built before 1 January, 1973, could display them – but that was because this was that date the historic tax classification was frozen at by the previous Government.

Really.....I seem to recall that this pre-1st Jan '73 cut-off date for legal use of non-reflective b&w plates existed long before the introduction of historic vehicle tax.

[marshalla]

aeropilot said:

Previously, only vehicles built before 1 January, 1973, could display them – but that was because this was that date the historic tax classification was frozen at by the previous Government.

Really.....I seem to recall that this pre-1st Jan '73 cut-off date for legal use of non-reflective b&w plates existed long before the introduction of historic vehicle tax.

And is the date specified in the legislation. There's nothing about "historic vehicles" in any of the relevant acts or regs. that I can find.

[aeropilot]

marshalla said:

aeropilot said:

Previously, only vehicles built before 1 January, 1973, could display them – but that was because this was that date the historic tax classification was frozen at by the previous Government.

Really.....I seem to recall that this pre-1st Jan '73 cut-off date for legal use of non-reflective b&w plates existed long before the introduction of historic vehicle tax.

And is the date specified in the legislation. There's nothing about "historic vehicles" in any of the relevant acts or regs. that I can find.

As I recall, and I am getting on a bit this was the date that it became compulsory for new cars to be fitted with the reflective white/yellow plates, that's why, cars made after this date can't display the older black/white plates.

[spoodler]

A "DVLA spokeswoman" - after all the cost cutting and mass axing of staff I'd be surprised if there's anyone left who's qualified to make statements like that!

Seems odd to me, would imply that as a car enters "historic status" it no longer has to satisfy various reg's that used to apply to it... hmmm...

[LuS1fer]

It is illegal to use them as stated above.
To my eyes, they look fairly crap anyway, save on older cars and even then, I still prefer reflective.

[silverfoxcc]

Agree with aeropilot.
however seeing reflective plates on a pre 73 Routemaster bus does look weird, although they can have them fitted legally
The rules are car registered before 1973 can use both types of plate
registered after 1973 onwards reflective only

[jagracer]

Someone needs to tell the DVSA (VOSA) this as it's still an MOT fail.

[PositronicRay]

jagracer said:

Someone needs to tell the DVSA (VOSA) this as it's still an MOT fail.

Not sure about this. I had a 74 Midget with black and whites, passed many MOT's

[jagracer]

PositronicRay said:

jagracer said:

Someone needs to tell the DVSA (VOSA) this as it's still an MOT fail.

Not sure about this. I had a 74 Midget with black and whites, passed many MOT's

So you managed to find a tester with a white stick and a Labrador but seriously some things pass that shouldn't. Here's the ruling:

Vehicles manufactured before 1 January 1973 may have registration plates displaying white, grey or silver characters on a black background

[mgtony]

So is the info in the link above and here again totally wrong??

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/general-news...

[marshalla]

mgtony said:

So is the info in the link above and here again totally wrong??

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/general-news...

Buggrit! I've just gone into this in more detail.

DVLA might actually be right - the Registration rules do not apply to "exempt vehicles" ( http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/22/schedu... ) and the definition of an exempt vehicle is amended through the Finance Act, the 2015 Act says : http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/11/sectio...

So, it looks like black & silver are permitted for pre-76s, but not until 1st April next year.
Pre-75's were covered in the 2014 Finance Act : http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/26/sectio...

Ain't Parliament fun ?

Edited by marshalla on Thursday 29th October 18:11

[mgtony]

Aren't those links ^^ just referring to the rolling tax exemption? Anything new legislative wise on the use of the silver & black plates?

[droopsnoot]

This was mentioned a short while ago by the FBHVC in their newsletter - during a conversation with the DVLA, DVLA had confirmed that non-reflective plates did indeed now have a cut-off the same as VED-exemptions. A more recent newsletter from the FBHVC acknowledges that they've had lots of enquiries as to whether it's really true, and confirmed that it is, and that some of their on-line documentation has not yet been updated to reflect the change.

[marshalla]

mgtony said:

Aren't those links ^^ just referring to the rolling tax exemption? Anything new legislative wise on the use of the silver & black plates?

It's the definition of an exempt vehicle which defines which type of plate it can display. Since the definition is changed by the Finance Act each year, the age of the vehicle has started to roll forward.

S18 of http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/pdfs/u... is the critical one as it changes which parts of Schedule 2 apply. Exempt vehicles may display any of the plate types described in Schedule 2.

Edited by marshalla on Thursday 29th October 22:58

[mgtony]

Thanks for that link.

It also answered the question I'd wondered about, on a square plate what the regs were about how many characters were allowed on each line.