S172 - Registration mark fails to conform.
Discussion
NMNeil said:
The question was more of, why do people pay lots of money in the hope that someone will look at their car?
It's their money to waste, but some of us just find it very odd behaviour.
For some it's to hide the age of their car, which I've always thought a bit odd. The only people who care how old your car is would probably ask you "what year is it?" or "did you buy it new", then you either have to lie or tell them it's older than you wished. It's their money to waste, but some of us just find it very odd behaviour.
No-one else will even care.
You give such a good talk about private plates, how they show how someone cares about cars and fights the case so well and sign off saying:
Is this on a private road too?
PS: "Private roads" are ones that only the owner, residents or their visitors have access to, IE gated. If the public have access to come and go as they please, like in the case of the road into Brookwood Cemetery then the law applies, so it DOES matter...
Armchair_Expert said:
Yes I agree those that butcher alter and mis represent plates look silly
Then you have to ruin it all with Hypocrisy Armchair_Expert said:
AlexRS2782 said:
On a private road, it matters not PS: "Private roads" are ones that only the owner, residents or their visitors have access to, IE gated. If the public have access to come and go as they please, like in the case of the road into Brookwood Cemetery then the law applies, so it DOES matter...
AlexRS2782 said:
Armchair_Expert said:
Yes I agree those that butcher alter and mis represent plates look silly, and get the wrong attention. But that's entirely different to simply having a personal plate.
Err, not sure that's how M24 OJD is meant to be spaced 
Edited by AlexRS2782 on Tuesday 15th February 23:31
IMO. Spacing like that looks a bit sad as well as being illegal.
donkmeister said:
For some it's to hide the age of their car, which I've always thought a bit odd. The only people who care how old your car is would probably ask you "what year is it?" or "did you buy it new", then you either have to lie or tell them it's older than you wished.
No-one else will even care.
Someone we know changes their car every year or 2, usually same colour & make. A personalised/ageless plate avoids too many customers thinking he's doing too well No-one else will even care.
Armchair_Expert said:
Again, show plates are designed for photos / pictures. I have plenty of them strewn across PH and elsewhere, does not mean I drive day by day with the same plates on.
Its even more sad if you drove somewhere, swapped them over for a photo and swapped them back again.Volvolover said:
Its even more sad if you drove somewhere, swapped them over for a photo and swapped them back again.
I disagree. I change my car each year and have a large album of photos of my various ownerships. The effort makes it worthwhile for me, when I look back. Besides, that image was taken a year ago and I am already looking for a plate for the next steed - WBAC makes changing very easy these days.Armchair_Expert said:
Again, show plates are designed for photos / pictures. I have plenty of them strewn across PH and elsewhere, does not mean I drive day by day with the same plates on.
if they're for "display only" then why not go the whole hog and have something like "BMW M240i" without the "JD" bit?Countdown said:
Armchair_Expert said:
Again, show plates are designed for photos / pictures. I have plenty of them strewn across PH and elsewhere, does not mean I drive day by day with the same plates on.
if they're for "display only" then why not go the whole hog and have something like "BMW M240i" without the "JD" bit?Countdown said:
Armchair_Expert said:
Again, show plates are designed for photos / pictures. I have plenty of them strewn across PH and elsewhere, does not mean I drive day by day with the same plates on.
if they're for "display only" then why not go the whole hog and have something like "BMW M240i" without the "JD" bit?I have no issue if people space them correctly.
NMNeil said:
The question was more of, why do people pay lots of money in the hope that someone will look at their car?
It's their money to waste, but some of us just find it very odd behaviour.
I’d be surprised if a majority of personal plate owners have them for the benefit of other people to look at. In most cases, they have them because the registration is personal to them and they know that the meaning of the characters/digits will mean naff all to the wider public. It's their money to waste, but some of us just find it very odd behaviour.
For example, we have the registration from my wife’s first car on retention. It’s financially worthless and is a totally generic prefix plate, however it holds sentimental value to my wife and so it's worth retaining in our eyes. The car itself has long since gone to the scrapheap, but it’s nice knowing we still have the ability to use the reg again if we do choose. Vanity? Nope, just pure sentimental value. She couldn’t keep the whole car, so just kept the registration instead. I highly doubt anyone would even notice the plate if we assigned it to a car, and nobody would have a clue what it means - I wouldn’t expect them to.
Equally, some private plates have been handed down through generations. Again, sentimental value outweighs any financial value, sometimes more so when the plate in question is nowadays worth a fair chunk. Not everyone with a valuable plate will have actually paid anywhere near current market value for it. Just nip over to the Real Good Plates thread to see some examples of plates bought 30 years ago for a few thousand, but are now worth six figure sums. Worthwhile investments, especially given the minimal-impact of keeping a plate; no maintenance, no insurance, no MOT, no VED, plus how they take up virtually no space at all.
Horses for courses really, everyone is into different things really. Some are really into watches; personally I’m not, I understand some are collectible and potentially good investments, but I just don’t get personally excited about them. However I have no issue with others devoting time and funds to watches, if they enjoy it then good for them. Likewise those into fine art or other collectibles, if they enjoy it I see no reason to question their motives, despite the fact I don’t share those interests.
Yes, my grandfather had a plate with his initials on it, which my grandmother put on her car after he died, and then when she died, I put a fair amount of work into getting her now derelict car into an MOTable state so I could transfer the plate to my brother, as he was named after our grandfather.
What the plate is or how much it's worth isn't of any particular interest to us,just wanted to keep it because it was our grandfather's.
It does start A1 and then the three letters of his initials, so it's clear it's a "deliberate" choice if you notice it on a car, but that's about the extent of it standing out.
What the plate is or how much it's worth isn't of any particular interest to us,just wanted to keep it because it was our grandfather's.
It does start A1 and then the three letters of his initials, so it's clear it's a "deliberate" choice if you notice it on a car, but that's about the extent of it standing out.
NMNeil said:
So it's not just me who can't understand this 'cherished' number plate fascination.
Drivers pay a lot on money so they can drive down the road in the hope that someone will see the expensive number plate, and think that the driver is really something special because the plate say's "look at me everyone, my number plate spells our xxxxx".
I wonder what Freud would have made of it all
Or indeed what Freud would make of someone bothered by it?Drivers pay a lot on money so they can drive down the road in the hope that someone will see the expensive number plate, and think that the driver is really something special because the plate say's "look at me everyone, my number plate spells our xxxxx".
I wonder what Freud would have made of it all
blueg33 said:
I fully get old plates passed down.
I don’t get M40 HYH. mis spaced to say M4 OH YH
Or
C13 VER trying to spell clever
And I am afraid I don’t get the nonsense of m420 etc that was posted earlier
This is the flip side of personal plates, usually ends up with “good plate” owners being thrown into the same camp as the butchered plate lot, which isn’t entirely fair in my view. The mis-spaced lot varies too, sometimes just the spacing gets fiddled with, other times the actual digits or characters get modified to look like something they’re not which in my view, ought to immediately result in the plate being revoked by DVLA. There was one on the C124PPY plates thread a while back, to the untrained eye it simply appeared to say “MINI”. Upon closer inspection. It was actually something like M7 LVY, but so seriously butchered that even seasoned PH plate-sniffers took a while to figure out the real reg, even with a high-res close up photo. An ANPR camera would have no chance. I don’t get M40 HYH. mis spaced to say M4 OH YH
Or
C13 VER trying to spell clever
And I am afraid I don’t get the nonsense of m420 etc that was posted earlier
It’s a shame as I like a good plate, but cringe when I see some of the misrepresented nonsense that’s out and about. I believe it’s become more prevalent than say, 15 years ago, thanks to a general awareness of plates and social media. Jaguar Steve has some amusingly outspoken views on the subject…
I got stopped the other week (MOT had expired - my fault £100).
I was also charged with having "illegal Plates" for which they want another £100.
However my plates are the same plates the car had when I bought it 4 years ago, and it has passed 4 MOTs at 3 different garages since with no comment. The Policeman said "The rules have changed..."
I didn't think the law was retrospective and that the plates were OK for a car registered in 1997.
The issue apparently is that my plates have an Isle of Man flag as opposed to a UK flag, and they have a honeycomb background with "Thunderbird 2" in small script where the new plates have the post code of the supplier. The spacing is fine.
I have other cars without a UK flag as they are mostly old vehicles with standard plates. Does this mean I have to change them all? I see many vehicles on the road with no UK flag so who is correct?
I'm hoping that the cars plates are OK for a 1997 vehicle and they are in error. How do I contest it, or was the Policeman correct??
I was also charged with having "illegal Plates" for which they want another £100.
However my plates are the same plates the car had when I bought it 4 years ago, and it has passed 4 MOTs at 3 different garages since with no comment. The Policeman said "The rules have changed..."
I didn't think the law was retrospective and that the plates were OK for a car registered in 1997.
The issue apparently is that my plates have an Isle of Man flag as opposed to a UK flag, and they have a honeycomb background with "Thunderbird 2" in small script where the new plates have the post code of the supplier. The spacing is fine.
I have other cars without a UK flag as they are mostly old vehicles with standard plates. Does this mean I have to change them all? I see many vehicles on the road with no UK flag so who is correct?
I'm hoping that the cars plates are OK for a 1997 vehicle and they are in error. How do I contest it, or was the Policeman correct??
Plates need to have the BS mark, otherwise they're not legal. IoM flags aren't legal either.
Obviously a lot of people don't have this, but get away with it because they're not in a position to be stopped, or the Police have better things to do.
Where people do get done for it the conclusion I can't help but drawing is that you or your car were driving in a manner that was drawing attention, and it had the desired result - except from the wrong people. It's one of those "we're going to find something wrong with your vehicle" offences where you've failed the attitude test and/or have been driving anti-socially.
Obviously a lot of people don't have this, but get away with it because they're not in a position to be stopped, or the Police have better things to do.
Where people do get done for it the conclusion I can't help but drawing is that you or your car were driving in a manner that was drawing attention, and it had the desired result - except from the wrong people. It's one of those "we're going to find something wrong with your vehicle" offences where you've failed the attitude test and/or have been driving anti-socially.
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