Is this plate legal?

[Eighteeteewhy]

I got stopped by the fuzz this morning, now I have a form that I have to get my MOT tester to stamp once I get new plates. The plate was on it when I bought it and I've also passed MOTs previously.

[ArsE92]

Does it have manufacturer details on?

[Eighteeteewhy]

ArsE92 said:

Does it have manufacturer details on?

Irrelevant to this, even if it did I would still have the form.

[EDLT]

Did they actually say why they thought it was illegal?

[rix]

I can only guess that it has insufficient border, or insufficient space after the prefix H. I know the makers details weren't required at the time of 1990/91 but not sure when the other regs came in?

[thinfourth2]

I take it the car is an import

[Eighteeteewhy]

EDLT said:

Did they actually say why they thought it was illegal?

Not legal font. He pointed at his plate saying they were not the same.

[PurpleMoonlight]

Plod in your area obviously weren't over worked by their colleagues all being in London.

They complain they need more manpower. No, they just need to stop wasting the manpower they have on insignificant matters. The plate is clearly legible for all to see if required.

[stuwalsh]

At a guess the font looks too small.

Trivial when you compare to many you see riding around!

[PanzerCommander]

Depends, if (and only if) it is an unofficial UK car i.e. an import (has had SVA/BIVA) and the car does not have provision for standard size number plates you are permitted under Section 14a of the RTA to use a plate that conforms to the motorcycle number plate rules. So as long as the plate meets them it is legal.

I carry a copy with me just encase I ever get stopped for having a plate that looks too small not obvious on the back but on the front it looks dodgy even though by law it isn't:

http://rdsmith.zenfolio.com/superstreetshootout201...

[Pothole]

http://www.newreg.co.uk/services/dvla_number_plate...

[silverfoxcc]

As being the founder (and only) member of the 'cancel all dodgy/misplaced/bad font/badly placed fasteners' club. I wouldn't look twice at this. Legible and a real picky if plod did you for the font.Unless it is because it is on tow lines BUT, cM/C do that all the time.
See if you can get a definitive reply

[deltashad]

The M3 convertible in the background has illegal font.

The MX5 looks perfectly normal to me. (for an import plate.) As was said, its now a requirement to have the company who supplied the plates names displayed at the bottom.

[Pothole]

Eighteeteewhy said:

I got stopped by the fuzz this morning, now I have a form that I have to get my MOT tester to stamp once I get new plates. The plate was on it when I bought it and I've also passed MOTs previously.

I can't see what he's on about.

[Sir Bagalot]

Eighteeteewhy said:

EDLT said:

Did they actually say why they thought it was illegal?

Not legal font. He pointed at his plate saying they were not the same.

Wasn't there an exception made for imports as plate area not large enough for fully legal plates?

[LuS1fer]

Imported vehicles without full type approval (SVA'd) and without sufficient space for a UK size plate can have a motorcycle-size plate:

Worth printing off for any doubtful officers of the law.

____________________________________
STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS
____________________________________

2002 No. 2687

ROAD TRAFFIC

The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) (Amendment) Regulations 2002

Made 24th October 2002
Laid before Parliament 1st November 2002
Coming into force 22nd November 2002

The Secretary of State for Transport, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 23(3) and (4) and 57 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994[1] hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) (Amendment) Regulations 2002 and shall come into force on 22nd November 2002.

Amendment of Regulations
2. The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001[2] shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of these Regulations.

Further requirements for registration plates
3. In regulation 11, after paragraph (1), insert the following paragraph -
" (1A) The surface of a registration plate must not comprise or incorporate any design, pattern or texture, or be treated in any way which gives to any part of the plate the appearance of a design, pattern or texture.".
Interpretation of provisions relating to registration marks
4. In regulation 12 (interpretation of Part III), in paragraph (1), in sub-paragraph (d), after "character height" ", insert ", except in relation to a vehicle to which regulation 14A applies,".

Size and spacing of characters
5. - (1) In regulation 14 (size and spacing of characters) -
(a) in paragraph (1), after "and (3)", insert "and regulation 14A";

(b) in paragraphs (4) and (5), for "The", substitute "Subject to regulation 14A, the";

(c) in paragaph (6), after "paragraph (11)", insert "or regulation 14A";

(d) in paragraphs (7) to (9), for "The", substitute "Subject to regulation 14A, the".
(2) After regulation 14, insert the following regulation -
" Size and spacing of characters: special cases
14A. - (1) This regulation applies in relation to any vehicle imported into the United Kingdom which -
(a) does not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval; and

(b) is so constructed that the area available for the fixing of the registration plate precludes the display on the plate of a registration mark in conformity with the requirements of regulation 14.
(2) In relation to a vehicle to which this regulation applies -
(a) each character in the registration mark must be 64 millimetres high;

(b) the width of each character of the mark, other than the letter "I" and the figure "1", must be 44 millimetres;

(c) the width of every part of the stroke forming a character in a mark must be 10 millimetres;

(d) the spacing between any two characters within a group must be 10 millimetres;

(e) the vertical spacing between groups of characters must be 5 millimetres;

(f) the width of a margin between the mark and the top and lateral sides of the registration plate must be not less than 5 millimetres;

(g) the space between the bottom of the mark and the bottom of the registration plate must be not less than 13 millimetres; but, within that space, the space between the bottom of the mark and the top of the name and postcode of the person by whom the plate was supplied must be not less than 5 millimetres."[3]


Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport.


David Jamieson
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Transport

[Rich_W]

Completely legal!

Older plates were allowed "fatter" letters But modern plates have the narrower type that you are running.

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m4s06000304.htm
For the MOT part.

I'm not a fan of bashing the police for the hell of it. But this guy was "mistaken"

[Eighteeteewhy]

Great response guys. PH delivers again.

I will get some new plates anyway so I have the proper manufacturers stamp at the bottom but I will get the same font as I like it.

[Sir Bagalot]

Eighteeteewhy said:

Great response guys. PH delivers again.

I will get some new plates anyway so I have the proper manufacturers stamp at the bottom but I will get the same font as I like it.

You don't need to have the manufactures stamp on them. Only plates made after a certain date have to have this.

[GC8]

Eighteeteewhy said:

EDLT said:

Did they actually say why they thought it was illegal?

Not legal font. He pointed at his plate saying they were not the same.

Then he is an imbecile. As an un-type approved imported vehicle without a suitable apeture, it is entitled to use a motorcycle sized font along with motorcycle spacing and borders.

Im presuming that by font he meant size, but the font was free pre Sept. 2001. The law was retrospectively altered and now the font has to be broadly similar, to outlaw silly itallic fonts that some piss-takers used.