Shouldnt all these illegal number plates fail an MOT?
Discussion
I see these things all the time and they seem to be on the up.
Screws put in plates to change the letters. Spacing all incorrect. Different size letter. Different font. Football logos. Playboy bunnies. The list goes on.
I know something so trivial shouldnt irritate me as much as it does, but shouldnt all these plates fail an MOT every 12 months? Because they never seem to do so. I know of a car i've seen for years now with a private plate, block capital italic font, and has been for years. Looks f
king stupid too. Just checked online and it passed its MOT 3 weeks ago....
Is it even an MOT failure? And if so, why are so many still about?
Screws put in plates to change the letters. Spacing all incorrect. Different size letter. Different font. Football logos. Playboy bunnies. The list goes on.
I know something so trivial shouldnt irritate me as much as it does, but shouldnt all these plates fail an MOT every 12 months? Because they never seem to do so. I know of a car i've seen for years now with a private plate, block capital italic font, and has been for years. Looks f
king stupid too. Just checked online and it passed its MOT 3 weeks ago....Is it even an MOT failure? And if so, why are so many still about?
Edited by un1corn on Sunday 29th October 23:35
un1corn said:
I see these things all the time and they seem to be on the up.
Screws put in plates to change the letters. Spacing all incorrect. Different size letter. Different font. Football logos. Playboy bunnies. The list goes on.
I know something so trivial shouldnt irritate me as much as it does, but shouldnt all these plates fail an MOT every 12 months? Because they never seem to do so. I know of a car i've seen for years now with a private plate, block capital italic font, and has been for years. Looks fking stupid too. Just checked online and it passed its MOT 3 weeks ago....
I agree with you 100%, some people just take the PI55.Screws put in plates to change the letters. Spacing all incorrect. Different size letter. Different font. Football logos. Playboy bunnies. The list goes on.
I know something so trivial shouldnt irritate me as much as it does, but shouldnt all these plates fail an MOT every 12 months? Because they never seem to do so. I know of a car i've seen for years now with a private plate, block capital italic font, and has been for years. Looks f
king stupid too. Just checked online and it passed its MOT 3 weeks ago....Maybe they put the "correct" ones back on test day?
In Malta you actually have to buy your number plates from the government, who actually make them up for you.
MOT pass will be one of the following:
- The correctly spaced plates are put back on before the test and then removed later.
- "Friendly" MOT tester is used and passes the plate as if it were spaced correctly.
- MOT tester doesn't care.
Although, OP, some do fail for plate spacing. There's a couple of lads on the RS forums who have sent theirs in with cheeky plates and have come back with a fail and then complained about it.
I also ran a plate through, that I'd taken a picture of for the crappy plates thread on here, on the .gov site once and it had failed. However it had also failed at the same MOT place 5 years in a row
Each time it was passed the same day (I assume by going back to a correctly spaced plate), but surely if it failed due to the plate spacing the first year, you wouldn't send it for an MOT with the same company the next 4 years without at least changing the plate first Maybe the owner just liked splashing out on a new set of correctly spaced plates every year 
- The correctly spaced plates are put back on before the test and then removed later.
- "Friendly" MOT tester is used and passes the plate as if it were spaced correctly.
- MOT tester doesn't care.
Although, OP, some do fail for plate spacing. There's a couple of lads on the RS forums who have sent theirs in with cheeky plates and have come back with a fail and then complained about it.
I also ran a plate through, that I'd taken a picture of for the crappy plates thread on here, on the .gov site once and it had failed. However it had also failed at the same MOT place 5 years in a row
Each time it was passed the same day (I assume by going back to a correctly spaced plate), but surely if it failed due to the plate spacing the first year, you wouldn't send it for an MOT with the same company the next 4 years without at least changing the plate first Maybe the owner just liked splashing out on a new set of correctly spaced plates every year Edited by AlexRS2782 on Monday 30th October 01:34
I'm sure some do fail, if presented for the test with illegal plates.
As an example, GRA 114M was presented for test Jan '16, failed for
Front registration plate character incorrectly spaced (6.3.4a) and
Rear registration plate character incorrectly spaced (6.3.4a)
Jan '17 we now only have an advisory for "Number plates held on with elastic bands".
Anyone care to hazard a guess as to what plates are showing on that vehicle today??
As an example, GRA 114M was presented for test Jan '16, failed for
Front registration plate character incorrectly spaced (6.3.4a) and
Rear registration plate character incorrectly spaced (6.3.4a)
Jan '17 we now only have an advisory for "Number plates held on with elastic bands".
Anyone care to hazard a guess as to what plates are showing on that vehicle today??
OddCat said:
Chester draws said:
Anyone care to hazard a guess as to what plates are showing on that vehicle today??
Is it GRA 114M ?Do I get a prize ?
Riley Blue said:
R8Steve said:
Riley Blue said:
DaveH23 said:
An MOT isn't worth the paper it's written on. It can pass 1 minute and 5 mins later be in a condition that will fail.
How can a numberplate do that?It would be one of the easiest cash cows for the govt as most of the fools who have one of these plates are fully road legal and easy to penalise.
I wonder why so many are left alone? They need to be caught as some of them are truly ste and virtually impossible to work out what the are suppost to mean.
I wonder why so many are left alone? They need to be caught as some of them are truly s
te and virtually impossible to work out what the are suppost to mean.I wonder if the reason they don't do much about them is that:
a) They can still be seen, recognised and prosecute with average speed, speed camera and other camera types.
b) They're easier to remember and stand out should for example the car be used for an armed robbery or similar.
I'd guess what they're more worried about are ones the cameras can't see (special coatings, or just not there)
a) They can still be seen, recognised and prosecute with average speed, speed camera and other camera types.
b) They're easier to remember and stand out should for example the car be used for an armed robbery or similar.
I'd guess what they're more worried about are ones the cameras can't see (special coatings, or just not there)
Really? I'd love to see the economics of your 'easiest cash cow'!
jjohnson23 said:
It would be one of the easiest cash cows for the govt as most of the fools who have one of these plates are fully road legal and easy to penalise.
I wonder why so many are left alone? They need to be caught as some of them are truly ste and virtually impossible to work out what the are suppost to mean.
I wonder why so many are left alone? They need to be caught as some of them are truly s
te and virtually impossible to work out what the are suppost to mean.DaveH23 said:
An MOT isn't worth the paper it's written on. It can pass 1 minute and 5 mins later be in a condition that will fail.
You can be walking down the road healthy and fit and 5 mins later drop dead from a heart attack.And the relevance of your post to non conforming number plates is............................
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