is this a legal number plate?
Discussion
As I was making progress down the M1 last night I passed a late model Merc, right hand drive, nothing out of the ordinary except the rear number plate had the word ALUMNI in black letters on a white background. These were proper letters in the normal number plate font, no funny games with numbers that I could see, no nationality stickers or anything else on the car to suggest it was foreign. I didn't get a look at the front number plate.
Is there any way this could be a legal number plate?
Is there any way this could be a legal number plate?
hm....only way the plate could be even slightly legal was if
a) they had tossed around with the numbers to such an extent you culdnt see it (followed X RALLY for ages on the motorway once before working out it was X24 LLY but they'd drawn the bar of the R in with a marker!) It would obviously STILL be illegal, but...
b) it wasnt actually the number plate? There was another plate on it too? (not sure you can do this anyway)
sounds a bit dodgy to me!
a) they had tossed around with the numbers to such an extent you culdnt see it (followed X RALLY for ages on the motorway once before working out it was X24 LLY but they'd drawn the bar of the R in with a marker!) It would obviously STILL be illegal, but...
b) it wasnt actually the number plate? There was another plate on it too? (not sure you can do this anyway)
sounds a bit dodgy to me!
blademan said:
With fewer and fewer proper trafpol out there to do anything about it does it really matter....
Bit dodgy around town though surely?
Probably around town, but i live out in the sticks and have not seen a trafpol out and about in over a year, you can pretty much drive just about anything any way you want around here and there is absolutely noone to do anything about it.... (that does not mean that i do or would or anything else.) if it were up to me the area would see a regular trafpol patrol to sort out the drink driving / dodgy cars etc that we all know is going on in the area.
I know a guy who, when he has to do a long journey, replaces his front plate with one which is half broken off. That way he's SPECS and laser-cam proof, especially at night, or so he claims.
He reckons his OB2 will enable him to slow for Gatso's and Truvelos.
Comments, anyone (apart from the fact that it's illegal to have a broken plate)?
He reckons his OB2 will enable him to slow for Gatso's and Truvelos.
Comments, anyone (apart from the fact that it's illegal to have a broken plate)?
Serious point here, if someone has messed about with the numbers so much that folks have a bit of a challenge working out what the number really is, what happens when they get scamera'd? I would imagine there are a lot them who just dont get nips from cameras, and trafpol leave them alone.
I have often been following a car trying to work out what the real number is, then when I think I have sussed it I have been stunned, eg several black screw caps strategically placed, a #1 or a letter I split down the middle to make a double 'L', shaving the bottom edges off of digits and using a screw cap to make a 'U' out of two 1's.
IMHO, the more effort they have made, the bigger a
they are.
I have often been following a car trying to work out what the real number is, then when I think I have sussed it I have been stunned, eg several black screw caps strategically placed, a #1 or a letter I split down the middle to make a double 'L', shaving the bottom edges off of digits and using a screw cap to make a 'U' out of two 1's.
IMHO, the more effort they have made, the bigger a
they are.Dibble said:
...if someone has messed about with the numbers so much that folks have a bit of a challenge working out what the number really is... I would imagine... trafpol leave them alone.
Not me! I'll ALWAYS give them a pull, and knock them off for it.
Nice one Dibble, a pull from the Style Police would be in order too
I always think its a bit hypocritical of DVLA who like to sell the combinations that make up a name, then when you've paid and have the plates made up you get nicked for it. To me there must be more important things in life than either buying a 'name' type plate, which shows you are a poseur or a prat and, secondly, being so concerned as a BiB to take the trouble nicking anyone who has.
Both parties should, perhaps, 'get a life'.
Now, let's see who gets offended by that comment!!!
Both parties should, perhaps, 'get a life'.
Now, let's see who gets offended by that comment!!!
Cooperman said:
To me there must be more important things in life than either buying a 'name' type plate, which shows you are a poseur or a prat and, secondly, being so concerned as a BiB to take the trouble nicking anyone who has.
There are more import things in life, but for the ministry of petty crimes this is a real easy one to ticket
Cooperman said:
I always think its a bit hypocritical of DVLA who like to sell the combinations that make up a name, then when you've paid and have the plates made up you get nicked for it. To me there must be more important things in life than either buying a 'name' type plate, which shows you are a poseur or a prat and, secondly, being so concerned as a BiB to take the trouble nicking anyone who has.
Both parties should, perhaps, 'get a life'.
Now, let's see who gets offended by that comment!!!
I'm not offended..but I don't know if the Bib were meant to be offended by your comment..
I agree totally with your statement about DVLA selling plates in a way which will attract people to buy them, knowing to then display would be illegal.
You might know this already people, but if you are stopped on more than two occasions for illegally spaced letters or itallic writing, the police can request that DVLA withdraw the number plate from you/your car. No matter how much you've paid for the plate, it's always the 'property' of the DVLA. You will then have to go back to your old registration plate and if that has been sold in the meantime, adopt a dreaded 'Q' plate..I wonder what that will do to your resale value..
No, Streetcop, you weren't meant to be offended. As if I would deliberately offend anyone!
My point is that first of all the DVLA encourage illegal plates in order to rake in more cash. They will deny this, but what's the point of selling a number like, say, B1 LLY if it isn't to spell out BILLY?
Then, some poseur with, IMHO, more money than sense, pays a huge amount in order to pose along the road with it, even though it impresses very few people. He/she is, however, not really hurting anyone, just looking a bit foolish and confirming that he/she has 'more money than sense'. However, a BiB will make a point of reporting him/her, rather than taking no notice.
I have no real feelings either way and nor, I suspect, do the majority, so why the need for any police action, unless the plate is completely unreadable.
No offence, BiB chaps, but why even bother with those t*****s?
My point is that first of all the DVLA encourage illegal plates in order to rake in more cash. They will deny this, but what's the point of selling a number like, say, B1 LLY if it isn't to spell out BILLY?
Then, some poseur with, IMHO, more money than sense, pays a huge amount in order to pose along the road with it, even though it impresses very few people. He/she is, however, not really hurting anyone, just looking a bit foolish and confirming that he/she has 'more money than sense'. However, a BiB will make a point of reporting him/her, rather than taking no notice.
I have no real feelings either way and nor, I suspect, do the majority, so why the need for any police action, unless the plate is completely unreadable.
No offence, BiB chaps, but why even bother with those t*****s?
Well at risk of offending many, I guess that there is a fundamental difference in attitude between the resident BiB's and the others such as Cooperman and myself and many here and thats why we are not police officers.
In order to do the job one has to actually believe in enforcing the rules and laws that are relentlessly churned out by the petty minded control freaks in government and increasingly the faceless bureaucrats in those various ever nastier government agencies.
While I for one couldn't care a toss if someone's plate says BILLY or B 1 LLY or whatever. Or are the scamera civilains who pore over the photographs so terminally thick that they can't work it out for themselves.
In order to do the job one has to actually believe in enforcing the rules and laws that are relentlessly churned out by the petty minded control freaks in government and increasingly the faceless bureaucrats in those various ever nastier government agencies.
While I for one couldn't care a toss if someone's plate says BILLY or B 1 LLY or whatever. Or are the scamera civilains who pore over the photographs so terminally thick that they can't work it out for themselves.
Richard C said:
Well at risk of offending many, I guess that there is a fundamental difference in attitude between the resident BiB's and the others such as Cooperman and myself and many here and thats why we are not police officers.
In order to do the job one has to actually believe in enforcing the rules and laws that are relentlessly churned out by the petty minded control freaks in government and increasingly the faceless bureaucrats in those various ever nastier government agencies.
While I for one couldn't care a toss if someone's plate says BILLY or B 1 LLY or whatever. Or are the scamera civilains who pore over the photographs so terminally thick that they can't work it out for themselves.
Actually it is so the APNR machines can read them and detect criminals far more easily than was possible in the past. Don't complain next time you are driven into by someone with no insurance and B 1 LLY on their number plate then....
Steve.
I just don't get why the fuzz get upset about people messing about with registrations. Surely if you drive a car with a registration which is somewhat extraordinary, either because it is mis-spaced or in italics or someway different to the norm, becomes memorable to those who see it. So, if such a car is involved in an accident or the driver of said vehicle does something which Joe Public wants to report to the fuzz, then the fact that the car had a memorable registrartion must make it easier to locate the car and driver from the DVLA database although the number plate might be a somewhat cryptic clue to the real registration. Far better then a witness not being able to remember a bog standard registration, is it not?
I have a registration which looks like my nickname and I couldn't have a mistress in this district 'cos everyone around here would know about it for miles around if my wheels were regularly seen outside the floosie's house, so surely personalised plates and mis-spacing registrations HELP crime detection and the police should encourage anything which makes car identifoication easier for potential witnesses.
I have a registration which looks like my nickname and I couldn't have a mistress in this district 'cos everyone around here would know about it for miles around if my wheels were regularly seen outside the floosie's house, so surely personalised plates and mis-spacing registrations HELP crime detection and the police should encourage anything which makes car identifoication easier for potential witnesses.
buckshee said:
I just don't get why the fuzz get upset about <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=people&v=56">people</a> messing about with registrations. Surely if you drive a <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=car&v=56">car</a> with a registration which is somewhat extraordinary, either because it is mis-spaced or in italics or someway different to the norm, becomes memorable to those who see it. So, if such a <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=car&v=56">car</a> is involved in an accident or the driver of said vehicle does something which Joe Public wants to report to the fuzz, then the fact that the <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=car&v=56">car</a> had a memorable registrartion must make it easier to locate the <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=car&v=56">car</a> and driver from the DVLA database although the number plate might be a somewhat cryptic clue to the real registration. Far better then a witness not being able to remember a bog standard registration, is it not?
I have a registration which looks like my nickname and I couldn't have a mistress in this district 'cos everyone around here would know about it for miles around if my wheels were regularly seen outside the floosie's <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=house&v=56">house</a>, so surely personalised plates and mis-spacing registrations HELP crime detection and the police should encourage anything which makes <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=car&v=56">car</a> identifoication easier for potential witnesses.
What about where mis-spacing is aided by the use of incorrect colour screw heads to make the letter/number appear to be something different? I have to agree with the BiB here, there is a standard for a good reason, those who abuse should be penalised (for being poseurs/prats).
stop relying on ANPR and get a proper job. Getting a bit sick of all this nit-picking. FFS why don't you catch some paedo's or rapists? Don't give me all that **** about anpr being so damn wonderful, when a few misplaced dots blow it out of the water. Not every motorist is a criminal, not everyone with window tints is bad. On the same note, we know that not every cop is a power crazed psycho who is just waiting to clobber you with a fine or points. I could go on, but things appear to have got a bit antagonistic, and as I have felt the sting of attempted fit-up, I'm not happy. More to follow.
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