Self-adhesive front number plates?

[Benjaminpalma]

Are these legal in the UK for modern cars? Are they are fiddle to have made? Do they have to have a reflective background?

It just occoured to me that my front number plate is blocking most of the lower 'scoop' (mine's a 99 model with a split scoop), and a self-adhesive jobby on the bonnet would look much cooler...

I keep mine in Spain and the temperature always causes concern - rumbling slowly through hot Spanish cities.

Thanks, chaps.

[Benjaminpalma]

I just found this, which helps answer my own question: http://www.craigsplates.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...

But would I be committing some sort of Chim crime? Would it still look right?

[V8 GRF]

They're not legal as they break the rules with regards to angle of display so would fail an MOT I imagine.
That said I've seen plenty of them about but that may change as cars are failed at MOT by less friendly testers.

[Bodmin]

Technically yes, as long as the position on the bonnet means it is clearly visible from the front i.e just below or above the TVR badge basically so the ANPR/speed cameras can read it

I know when I fitted one to my Griff about 4yrs ago I did have difficulty finding a company that would supply one so I ordered mine as a sign kit. However it may be worth trying companies like Showplates.

The Chim has a larger air intake for the rad than a Griff but I know my cars running temp had dropped by about 10C in hot weather.

Last Sunday three of us, two Griffs & a Chim, where stopped by Traffic Police because the other Griff's number plate was too small, 1cm in height to be precise. One £30 fixed penalty ticket later we were back on our way. The Policeman had looked at my stick on plate & said that is what my friend should have done

Oh, & there was a BBC cameraman there filming & he told us we will be appearing on one of those Police,Camera,Action/Road Wars type programmes in 2010

Bodders

[Benjaminpalma]

V8 GRF said:

They're not legal as they break the rules with regards to angle of display so would fail an MOT I imagine.
That said I've seen plenty of them about but that may change as cars are failed at MOT by less friendly testers.

Hmm... I though about keeping the old hard plate just for MOTs!

[Benjaminpalma]

Bodmin said:

Technically yes, as long as the position on the bonnet means it is clearly visible from the front i.e just below or above the TVR badge basically so the ANPR/speed cameras can read it

I know when I fitted one to my Griff about 4yrs ago I did have difficulty finding a company that would supply one so I ordered mine as a sign kit. However it may be worth trying companies like Showplates.

The Chim has a larger air intake for the rad than a Griff but I know my cars running temp had dropped by about 10C in hot weather.

Last Sunday three of us, two Griffs & a Chim, where stopped by Traffic Police because the other Griff's number plate was too small, 1cm in height to be precise. One £30 fixed penalty ticket later we were back on our way. The Policeman had looked at my stick on plate & said that is what my friend should have done

Oh, & there was a BBC cameraman there filming & he told us we will be appearing on one of those Police,Camera,Action/Road Wars type programmes in 2010

Bodders

Ask the BBC for some royalties. About thirty quid should do. I sounds like it'll be a ripping programme!!!! Zzzzzz

Can you post a picture of yours?

[Bodmin]

V8 GRF said:

They're not legal as they break the rules with regards to angle of display so would fail an MOT I imagine.
That said I've seen plenty of them about but that may change as cars are failed at MOT by less friendly testers.

Well I have had four MOT's at three different testing stations & not one have commented on it.

When I last looked at the MOT regs there where specific requirements for the size of the plate-oblong or rectangular, size,style & spacing of the letters/ numbers & that it was the correct colour for the year i.e after 1972 only white or yellow. There was no specific place or angle that the plate had to be fitted at,like for instance fog lights apart from it has to be at the front of the vehicle & not obscured.

If mine was illegal I cannot see why the Traffic Policeman would have not done me as well, all adds to his 'quota' especially in front of the cameraman. The Traffic Police where having a purge that day as we came across three check points within twenty miles & according to a group of motorcyclists one of our group spoke to at a stop all but one of them had been fined for incorrect size number plates

There are quite a few TVR's out there with the stick on plates so I would have thought they would be on here warning people about their fines.

Bodders

[DavidLScott]

Bearing in mind there is no specific place to fix a TVR plate (although I accept that the mid rail has a flat section) is there any rule about what is the correct location? We get away with our rear plates after all.

[Bodmin]

Hopefully this has worked & you will see my plate is below the 'TVR' badge. Another friend of mine has had his stick on plate above the badge for as long as, or if not longer, than mine without any MOT/Police issues.

Hopefully someone will pop up with a picture of a Chim because I am sure you don't want to keep looking a Griffs

Bodders

[miniman]

My MX-5 just failed on its sticky front plate, it seems that until very recently MOT stations were instructed NOT to test number plates at all, and that guidance has now been lifted, so I suspect we will see many more failures on dodgy plates.

[Benjaminpalma]

DavidLScott said:

We get away with our rear plates after all.

What's strange about our rear plates?

[Benjaminpalma]

Bodmin said:

Hopefully this has worked & you will see my plate is below the 'TVR' badge. Another friend of mine has had his stick on plate above the badge for as long as, or if not longer, than mine without any MOT/Police issues.

Hopefully someone will pop up with a picture of a Chim because I am sure you don't want to keep looking a Griffs

Bodders

YUM! Thanks!

[Zumbruk]

Benjaminpalma said:

DavidLScott said:

We get away with our rear plates after all.

What's strange about our rear plates?

The rear ones on early cars are back-lit, which is no longer allowed. It also means you need translucent plates, which are hard(er) to get.

[Bodmin]

miniman said:

My MX-5 just failed on its sticky front plate, it seems that until very recently MOT stations were instructed NOT to test number plates at all, and that guidance has now been lifted, so I suspect we will see many more failures on dodgy plates.

Ummm... thats interesting what was the exact wording of the VT30. I can find no reference on the VOSA website which governs the MOT test in relation to stick on number plates.

There seems to be a Testers Special Notice from 2004 in relation to a suspension of number plate testing but that seem to relate to the items such as spacing, border & type of font used.

Unless the testing station has stated under which exact part of the regulation they have failed your plate you could go for a VT17 Appeal.

I've got my MOT coming up this month so if they have changed the regs I will just refit my normal plate for the test & then take it back off as the Police don't seem to have an issue with it .... can't see anything in the MOT test regs that states you can't have more than one plate on the front of the car for an MOT test

Bodders

[DavidLScott]

Zumbruk said:

Benjaminpalma said:

DavidLScott said:

We get away with our rear plates after all.

What's strange about our rear plates?

The rear ones on early cars are back-lit, which is no longer allowed. It also means you need translucent plates, which are hard(er) to get.

Thanks Zumbruk.

They are easy to get on-line from craigsplates or fancyplates.

[Benjaminpalma]

Bodmin said:

can't see anything in the MOT test regs that states you can't have more than one plate on the front of the car for an MOT test

Bodders

My thinking exactly. How could they fail you if you DID have the correct plates?!? It's be like having a pair extra non-ligit headlamps... so what?

[V8 GRF]

When I took my car for it's last MOT the tester passed my 2/3rds plate as long as I left as soon as he'd issued my MOT . The police who've looked at my plate take a different view and are happy with my plate as it's correctly spaced and in a clear font. The size of the plate itself is actually unimportant and is not mentioned anywhere in the regs, it's the size of the letters and their spacing that is specified. So you could have a full size plate trimmed as tight to the number as you wanted and be legal.

The tester told me that technically if he sees an illegal plate he should fail the car on the spot even before he's done the test, so you should change your illegal plates for the legal ones before you take the car for it's MOT. I think that the angle of the plate is specified for the MOT regs and as such a stick on one would be an MOT failure but not necessarily deemed illegal by a polceman.

Two sets of rules being applied here it would seem.

ETA

Here are the regs CLICKY but this is the relevant bit with regards to the mounting requirements

• * * * * *

Fixing of front registration plates: vehicles registered on or after the relevant date
6. - (1) This regulation applies to vehicles, other than works trucks, road rollers and agricultural machines, first registered on or after the relevant date.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (5), a registration plate must be fixed on the front of the vehicle in the manner required by paragraph (3).

(3) This paragraph requires the plate to be fixed -

(a) vertically or, where that is not reasonably practicable, in a position as close to the vertical as is reasonably practicable,

(b) in such a position that in normal daylight the characters of the registration mark are easily distinguishable from every part of a relevant area having the diagonal length specified in paragraph (4).

• * * * * *

I imagine the bit in bold is open to discussion but I guess they argue that there is enough room to display the plate vertically by affixing it to the bar?

Edited by V8 GRF on Thursday 4th June 18:53

[Benjaminpalma]

Thanks, V8 GRF - a fantastic bit of research! Always good to look at the original sources.

So, with engine not getting enough air, I'll slap a sticky one on the bonnet!

[DavidLScott]

A lot of the rules seem impossible though as plates should, in theory, be vertical but our Chim's rear ones at least aren't at the back but that may have been part of the special regs.

Bike plates are even weirder. My KTM 950SM is a road bike and does have a vertical plate but their road registered enduro bikes have plates that are almost horizontal and they were sold in this country like that and, apparently therefore legal.

The police have also been instructed to accept small plates on bikes as long as they can be read from the statutory distance.

Maybe this is all coming down to the opinion of the person looking at it at the time.

[ray_von]

V8 GRF said:

The size of the plate itself is actually unimportant and is not mentioned anywhere in the regs, it's the size of the letters and their spacing that is specified. So you could have a full size plate trimmed as tight to the number as you wanted and be legal.

This is what I thought about doing after I was told in uncertain terms to remove my 2/3 or 3/4 size plate (can't remember which) but just thought what's the point if the law around here are so picky they would probably still try and catch me.
There is someone on the net who will make plates to any size you want so you could get a bare minimum overall size and still have the correct font, spacing etc without the need to trim one down