Nothern Irish plates and UK mainland MOTs
Discussion
Evening all,
I bought my car from a chap in Northern Ireland last November and brought it back to Aberdeen; the car has a UK registration (as it was first registered in the UK) but the Irish chap had NI style plates on it (NI plates are basically the same as UK plates, only with bold characters).
When I transfered all the paperwork in November I expalined the plate format to a DVLA advisor (I say advisor, he sounded like someone on work-experience) and asked if it would cause any problems with the police/MOT centres and I was told that no, it wouldn't. The car is booked in for it's MOT next week and I'm starting to have second doubts about this advice.
I've checked the DVLA (and NI DVLA) websites and they say exactly the same thing regarding the character spacing on a registration plates (and I've not had any trouble from the local BIB) so I'm thinking if the plate style is the norm in NI and their DVLA say the same as ours, the plate must be legit... anyone care to give me the odds on this style of plate being okay to pass a UK MOT?
TIA.
I bought my car from a chap in Northern Ireland last November and brought it back to Aberdeen; the car has a UK registration (as it was first registered in the UK) but the Irish chap had NI style plates on it (NI plates are basically the same as UK plates, only with bold characters).
When I transfered all the paperwork in November I expalined the plate format to a DVLA advisor (I say advisor, he sounded like someone on work-experience) and asked if it would cause any problems with the police/MOT centres and I was told that no, it wouldn't. The car is booked in for it's MOT next week and I'm starting to have second doubts about this advice.
I've checked the DVLA (and NI DVLA) websites and they say exactly the same thing regarding the character spacing on a registration plates (and I've not had any trouble from the local BIB) so I'm thinking if the plate style is the norm in NI and their DVLA say the same as ours, the plate must be legit... anyone care to give me the odds on this style of plate being okay to pass a UK MOT?
TIA.
dtmpower said:
This is a NI fonted plate... 
That one doesn't have 11mm spacing on the left side or the BSAU logo bottom right, so is illegal 
Whether anyone will be picky enough to follow it up or the many similar plates parked in the street....
As if the ANPR machine wont be able to read it
mouseymousey said:
If you're that bothered why not just get a 'compliant' set of plates made up for the MOT?
I thought about that; had I been organised enough would have got "proper" plates made up ages ago however I'm now in the situation where it's two days to MOT and I've no spare time between now and then to get some plates made up as I'm away on business tomorrow and Tuesday.boomboompow said:
mouseymousey said:
If you're that bothered why not just get a 'compliant' set of plates made up for the MOT?
I thought about that; had I been organised enough would have got "proper" plates made up ages ago however I'm now in the situation where it's two days to MOT and I've no spare time between now and then to get some plates made up as I'm away on business tomorrow and Tuesday.It's easy to get confused regarding legal plates and MoT requirements. They are not the same and whilst they may contravene the law, not all transgressions are an MoT fail. BS marking is an example of one of the checks that doesn't form part of the MoT (VOSA Special Notice Nov 2007).
Magic919 said:
It's easy to get confused regarding legal plates and MoT requirements. They are not the same and whilst they may contravene the law, not all transgressions are an MoT fail. BS marking is an example of one of the checks that doesn't form part of the MoT (VOSA Special Notice Nov 2007).
I knew there was something about that somewhere!Is that due to EU competition regs saying that so long as it meets the requirements of BS it doesnt need to have BS written on it
Or is all that BS?
boomboompow said:
(NI plates are basically the same as UK plates, only with bold characters).
When I transfered all the paperwork in November I expalined the plate format to a DVLA advisor (I say advisor, he sounded like someone on work-experience) and asked if it would cause any problems with the police/MOT centres and I was told that no, it wouldn't. The car is booked in for it's MOT next week and I'm starting to have second doubts about this advice.
I've checked the DVLA (and NI DVLA) websites and they say exactly the same thing regarding the character spacing on a registration plates (and I've not had any trouble from the local BIB) so I'm thinking if the plate style is the norm in NI and their DVLA say the same as ours, the plate must be legit... anyone care to give me the odds on this style of plate being okay to pass a UK MOT?
TIA.
As someone from N. Ireland, there is no such thing as NI plates or NI font or whatever he told you. They're supposed to be the same as UK mainland ones. They should comply to the normal UK plate legislation.When I transfered all the paperwork in November I expalined the plate format to a DVLA advisor (I say advisor, he sounded like someone on work-experience) and asked if it would cause any problems with the police/MOT centres and I was told that no, it wouldn't. The car is booked in for it's MOT next week and I'm starting to have second doubts about this advice.
I've checked the DVLA (and NI DVLA) websites and they say exactly the same thing regarding the character spacing on a registration plates (and I've not had any trouble from the local BIB) so I'm thinking if the plate style is the norm in NI and their DVLA say the same as ours, the plate must be legit... anyone care to give me the odds on this style of plate being okay to pass a UK MOT?
TIA.
Your style of plate is known as a "metro plate" over here, which were used for vanity (they just look better). However, they'll likely fail an MOT here too now, though there was some leniency for dealer supplied Metro plates. Folks over here do get fixed penalties for Metro plates, and it's now illegal to sell them unless for "show use". The ones pictured in this thread are mostly illegal.
So, you really should get your plates changed.
All the details you need are here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_...
Edit: The red BM has the wrong spacing, and would instantly get a FPN here. Should be XXI 1234 and not XX I1234. The Transit wouldn't pass MOT here either now.
Edited by HellDiver on Wednesday 10th February 16:11
^ Are you 100% sure? I picked the car up in Belfast and no exaggeration, 95% of the cars in the Airport car park had these style plates on them (it was the first thing I noticed when I was waiting for the guy to show up) so I assumed they were the norm in NI.
I checked with the MOT centre the car is booked into (tomorrow); chap took a look at the plates through the window and reckoned they wouldn't cause a problem - guess I'll have to wait and see; its not a big issue if I do have to get them changed.
I checked with the MOT centre the car is booked into (tomorrow); chap took a look at the plates through the window and reckoned they wouldn't cause a problem - guess I'll have to wait and see; its not a big issue if I do have to get them changed.
Edited by boomboompow on Wednesday 10th February 16:17
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