Wife stopped for illegal number plate...

[B'stard Child]

surveyor_101 said:

I am of the view I have better things to do than justify why I have specially sized number plates. Just buy standard number plates and no issue.

But if your vanity is worth hours of wasted time with the police, whatever floats your boat.

Does the same apply to any other error by a police officer?

[InitialDave]

surveyor_101 said:

I am of the view I have better things to do than justify why I have specially sized number plates. Just buy standard number plates and no issue.

But if your vanity is worth hours of wasted time with the police, whatever floats your boat.

I see your point, but you shouldn't need to choose how to organise your life to avoid getting hassle because the copper involved didn't know the rules.

While a "normal" plate would have avoided this, so would plod knowing that a shorter registration mark can use a shorter physical plate and still be conforming.

[dmsims]

That car can look forward to regular stops now

[anonymous-user]

surveyor_101 said:

But if your vanity is worth hours of wasted time with the police, whatever floats your boat.

It was the police officer who didn't understand the law and wasted his time and 'our' money.

[RDMcG]

I think people will always try to get around regulations
In Canada and the US personal plates are cheap and common but in some jurisdictions you need a front plate as well as a rear. This causes all kinds of ridiculous behaviour with plates being displayed on the dash. Also you get people trying to slip in insidious messages and hoping authorities will not notice.

There was a case in Virginia where the tag line on the plate was “kids first”. The owner promptly had “eat the” as his plate until it wad revoked

I have lots of them.

Smart For Two : ALECK
Viper Green GT3RS : GRUNHLLE
991RS: NRBRGRNG
Green Wrangler: SOILENT
Mercedes SL: EHMENZ
CAYenne S ( dog car) : CAYENINE

Panamera Turbo wagon will be visiting the Nurburgring as always and will get NRDSCHLF

They do crack down on undersized or cut down plates or tinted covers though. It’s skl dirt cheap here. You buy your plate for $200 and can transfer it from car to car. No resale madness for crazy prices. You and transfer your plate with the car if you sell car but it is not a personal plate for new owner so it dies with car.

[surveyor_101]

yonex said:

It was the police officer who didn't understand the law and wasted his time and 'our' money.

So many people flout the law with number plates and some are criminals so I can see why they stopped the car.

Sadly many police officers these days don't have a scooby doo!

Maybe they need training, child car seats seem to be an area of ambiguity! I challenged a devon and Cornwall officer manning a stand on whether a particular child seat was legal for my daughter. Even in his position, he could not give a clear answer and I came away thinking they just wanted to see a child using a seat than nothing at all, which is a problem with someone people especially migrants from countries with lax laws on children in cars. It appeared I knew more than he did!

Avon and somerset

I wasn't stopped but a police officer parking next to my car made a passing comment about my daughter's car seat being in the front of the car. He claimed a full height booster should not be used in the front passenger seat. I asked him what the issue was and he said a child under 135cm should not be in the passenger seat at all! Not a clue, I got the iPad out and called up some reference material and the guy didn't want to be educated.

[Pothole]

surveyor_101 said:

yonex said:

It was the police officer who didn't understand the law and wasted his time and 'our' money.

So many people flout the law with number plates and some are criminals so I can see why they stopped the car.

Sadly many police officers these days don't have a scooby doo!

Maybe they need training, child car seats seem to be an area of ambiguity! I challenged a devon and Cornwall officer manning a stand on whether a particular child seat was legal for my daughter. Even in his position, he could not give a clear answer and I came away thinking they just wanted to see a child using a seat than nothing at all, which is a problem with someone people especially migrants from countries with lax laws on children in cars. It appeared I knew more than he did!

Avon and somerset

I wasn't stopped but a police officer parking next to my car made a passing comment about my daughter's car seat being in the front of the car. He claimed a full height booster should not be used in the front passenger seat. I asked him what the issue was and he said a child under 135cm should not be in the passenger seat at all! Not a clue, I got the iPad out and called up some reference material and the guy didn't want to be educated.

I'm sure your average plod could find 1000 things about the law (s)he was more knowledgeable about than you, don't you think?

[surveyor_101]

Pothole said:

I'm sure your average plod could find 1000 things about the law (s)he was more knowledgeable about than you, don't you think?

Yes and know although I am ex plod!

My point being why do they go on a roadshow stand on car seats without knowing the basics? Or make a comment to a member of law abiding public on a subject they are clearly wrong!

If I saw someone I wouldnt pull them up unless sure I am correct

[B'stard Child]

surveyor_101 said:

Pothole said:

I'm sure your average plod could find 1000 things about the law (s)he was more knowledgeable about than you, don't you think?

Yes and know although I am ex plod!

My point being why do they go on a roadshow stand on car seats without knowing the basics? Or make a comment to a member of law abiding public on a subject they are clearly wrong!

If I saw someone I wouldnt pull them up unless sure I am correct

And your comment earlier in the thread? I’m also ex plod and have been the defendant in a court case where the police officers who stopped me made a mistake but instead of recognising the mistake at the roadside they offered a fixed penalty for the offence I hadn’t committed. I declined it and said I would see them in court. This gave them another opportunity to think again but they pushed thro and the CPS chose to pursue it thro the courts, they got away with it in a magistrates court and I was found guilty. Fortunately I didn’t chose to roll over and at crown court the conviction was overturned and I was awarded full costs (no small sum of money at the time once I’d had to bring a barristor on board)

If you are in the right regardless of the circumstances why should you roll over when a police officer is clearly wrong or mistaken?

[anonymous-user]

B'stard Child said:

And your comment earlier in the thread? I’m also ex plod and have been the defendant in a court case where the police officers who stopped me made a mistake but instead of recognising the mistake at the roadside they offered a fixed penalty for the offence I hadn’t committed. I declined it and said I would see them in court. This gave them another opportunity to think again but they pushed thro and the CPS chose to pursue it thro the courts, they got away with it in a magistrates court and I was found guilty. Fortunately I didn’t chose to roll over and at crown court the conviction was overturned and I was awarded full costs (no small sum of money at the time once I’d had to bring a barristor on board)

If you are in the right regardless of the circumstances why should you roll over when a police officer is clearly wrong or mistaken?

Unfortunately a lot of people just roll over when faced with the same situation.

[Pothole]

surveyor_101 said:

Pothole said:

I'm sure your average plod could find 1000 things about the law (s)he was more knowledgeable about than you, don't you think?

Yes and know although I am ex plod!

My point being why do they go on a roadshow stand on car seats without knowing the basics? Or make a comment to a member of law abiding public on a subject they are clearly wrong!

If I saw someone I wouldnt pull them up unless sure I am correct

If you're ex plod you know exactly why: because their skipper told them to and they only watched a 5 minute NCALT before being thrust out in front of the great unwashed. (probably)

[B'stard Child]

yonex said:

B'stard Child said:

And your comment earlier in the thread? I’m also ex plod and have been the defendant in a court case where the police officers who stopped me made a mistake but instead of recognising the mistake at the roadside they offered a fixed penalty for the offence I hadn’t committed. I declined it and said I would see them in court. This gave them another opportunity to think again but they pushed thro and the CPS chose to pursue it thro the courts, they got away with it in a magistrates court and I was found guilty. Fortunately I didn’t chose to roll over and at crown court the conviction was overturned and I was awarded full costs (no small sum of money at the time once I’d had to bring a barristor on board)

If you are in the right regardless of the circumstances why should you roll over when a police officer is clearly wrong or mistaken?

Unfortunately a lot of people just roll over when faced with the same situation.

I did have to be very very careful when driving in a certain town for several years afterwards....... I think it took two changes of car and a move out of the area before I was relaxed about driving into the town.

The two officers concerned got a fair bit of egg on face after crown - they celebrated after magistrates which I thought was a tad premature - I think they always thought it was two police officers word against one ex officer.

Hitting them both with a perjury allegation between magistrates and crown probably didn't help much either but one or both of them had lied under oath unfortunately their pocket note books had very little information to help them refresh their memories - I think they assumed at the time they filled them in (16 hrs after the incident when they came back on shift) that it was a done deal and details didn't matter.....

On the other hand I had notes written immediately after the event that covered everything that happened up to and after the incident including what was said by all parties. My notes and those of my passenger were signed dated and timed by my duty manager at work 45 mins after the stop.

They also failed to ask my passenger anything at all - we were car sharing to work but he had already been accepted to join the police and when he attended crown as my witness it wasn't two against one anymore.

I still have a high level of respect for police officers but they are human and can make mistakes - if they aren't prepared to admit that they made a mistake then that is what the court process is for.

[Boycie999]

I’ll just leave this here for the short plate haters

[Bear-n]

I've a sudden urge to visit a model village.

[Strudul]

Boycie999 said:

I’ll just leave this here for the short plate haters

5 is the minimum you can get away with, and only if it doesn't leave a huge empty recess.

[Bigends]

Pothole said:

If you're ex plod you know exactly why: because their skipper told them to and they only watched a 5 minute NCALT before being thrust out in front of the great unwashed. (probably)

No excuse - the public rely on them providing the correct information. Its never been easier to access.

[xjay1337]

surveyor_101 said:

I am of the view I have better things to do than justify why I have specially sized number plates. Just buy standard number plates and no issue.

But if your vanity is worth hours of wasted time with the police, whatever floats your boat.

Why do you have an issue with it lol.

It is a legal plate. That is the end of it.

[RM]

Christ this thread has turned into a bh fest.

CRA1G said:

RM said:

Does it have the BS mark on it, and the makers name and postcode? If not then it's not legal.

Keep up at the back.. It was established on the first page it was made by an authorised BS plate supplier...! and after 20 odd page's it's been established it is LEGAL.!

Keep up yourself. I wasn't addressing the OP, see below. I'm very aware of Four Dot, the maker of the OP's plate, including DLVA's rather dim view of them, even though their plates are legal to the letter of the law.

RM said:

AJB88 said:

I've got a 6 digit number plate and run a "legal" shorter plate, I have measure it and it does tally up with the DVLA rules.

Does it have the BS mark on it, and the makers name and postcode? If not then it's not legal.

See? I was addressing AJB88, who stated he had a "legal" short plate (his quotes).

Strudul said:

For a 5 year old maybe...

- Measure the space width
- Measure the plate width
- Half the difference
- Measure that distance from a side edge and mark
- Repeat for height
- Line plate up with marks
- Job jobbed

TooMany2cvs said:

If the aim is to get it centred vertically, then there's a miserable fail gone on here.

As for centred horizontally - dead easy...
Bit of masking tape on the plate, bit on the body.
Measure, pencil mark centreline of each.
Line centrelines up.
Lightly fix plate, with spirit level to check the plate's not on the wonk (and don't assume the car isn't on the wonk).
Then stand back and look to see if the height in the non-symmetrical aperture is good for you and properly illuminated by the plate lights.
Stick on properly.
Stand back and wait for totty to fling themselves at the feet of a man with a shorter-than-normal bit of reflective perspex on his car.

Yes, both those processes are foolproof (you forgot to say measure twice!) and are sooo much easier than; remove backing of sticky dots on full size number plate sized cardboard template, stick full size number plate size cardboard template in full sized number plate sized recess. Remove backing from tape on back of small plate and stick in small plate sized hole in cardboard. Remove cardboard.

Not a pencil, tape measure, masking tape or spirit level (ffs) in sight.

[TVR4US]

Nanook said:

Breadvan72 said:

That plate looks dodgy. Pay up. Besides, having a personalised plate ought to be an imprisonable offence, so consider your wife lucky. I suppose it is an offence that carries its own punishment as a personalised plate is like a sign saying "I am a fkwit".

Edited by Breadvan72 on Saturday 13th January 15:50

You're a lawyer, right?

The only thing that says "I am a fkwit" so far in this thread, is your post.

Well said what a fk wit, yes those plates ARE LEGAL

[wc98]

classicyanktanks said:

Lucky B&*tard :-)

i strongly suspect luck had nothing to do with it.