Incorrect number plate spacing?

[anonymous-user]

Just change your name to your plate on now, job jobbed.

[Hol]

I am feeling a distinct sense of Deja Vue,

I’m not sure that’s penicillin will clear it up, this time.

[creatzz]

Dredging this one back up..


Any idea if just not having a space is an issue, all the rest as standard? So for example on a modern plate:

XXNN XXX
XXNNXXX

Would be shortening the plate slightly as the whole plate looks like one word.

[CRA1G]

creatzz said:

Dredging this one back up..


Any idea if just not having a space is an issue, all the rest as standard? So for example on a modern plate:

XXNN XXX
XXNNXXX

Would be shortening the plate slightly as the whole plate looks like one word.

To be legal you must have a space between letters and numbers you can shorten a plate as long as it complys.

[dave01253]

I have run 2 cars both similar plates to each other with no spacing at all "bb22bbb" for 2 years now, and I've not been pulled. I was once chatting with a traffic police officer on an unrelated non-traffic matter at someone else's home. As I greeted him, I gave him my name and he said that explains the plate on the car outside. I asked if the plate would ever be an issue and he said no, the letters and numbers aren't being misrepresented - o and zero etc or changing number letter groups (b2bb b or b22b bb etc) and an anpr camera would have absolutely no difficulty in reading it. I use an anpr car park where my plate gets flashed up on a dot matrix display on entry and I use a lot of "enter your numberplate at reception" places and have never had an issue.

dave

[creatzz]

dave01253 said:

I have run 2 cars both similar plates to each other with no spacing at all "bb22bbb" for 2 years now, and I've not been pulled. I was once chatting with a traffic police officer on an unrelated non-traffic matter at someone else's home. As I greeted him, I gave him my name and he said that explains the plate on the car outside. I asked if the plate would ever be an issue and he said no, the letters and numbers aren't being misrepresented - o and zero etc or changing number letter groups (b2bb b or b22b bb etc) and an anpr camera would have absolutely no difficulty in reading it. I use an anpr car park where my plate gets flashed up on a dot matrix display on entry and I use a lot of "enter your numberplate at reception" places and have never had an issue.

dave

Thanks Dave for that info, it's what I had hoped/assumed would be the case. Not technically allowed but not silly enough to get flagged up.

[Stoofa]

creatzz said:

dave01253 said:

I have run 2 cars both similar plates to each other with no spacing at all "bb22bbb" for 2 years now, and I've not been pulled. I was once chatting with a traffic police officer on an unrelated non-traffic matter at someone else's home. As I greeted him, I gave him my name and he said that explains the plate on the car outside. I asked if the plate would ever be an issue and he said no, the letters and numbers aren't being misrepresented - o and zero etc or changing number letter groups (b2bb b or b22b bb etc) and an anpr camera would have absolutely no difficulty in reading it. I use an anpr car park where my plate gets flashed up on a dot matrix display on entry and I use a lot of "enter your numberplate at reception" places and have never had an issue.

dave

Thanks Dave for that info, it's what I had hoped/assumed would be the case. Not technically allowed but not silly enough to get flagged up.

One anecdotal story about one traffic police officer and suddenly you've decided that it's "technically not allowed but not silly enough to get flagged up".
Rather large leap of faith there.

[spikeyhead]

Stoofa said:

creatzz said:

dave01253 said:

I have run 2 cars both similar plates to each other with no spacing at all "bb22bbb" for 2 years now, and I've not been pulled. I was once chatting with a traffic police officer on an unrelated non-traffic matter at someone else's home. As I greeted him, I gave him my name and he said that explains the plate on the car outside. I asked if the plate would ever be an issue and he said no, the letters and numbers aren't being misrepresented - o and zero etc or changing number letter groups (b2bb b or b22b bb etc) and an anpr camera would have absolutely no difficulty in reading it. I use an anpr car park where my plate gets flashed up on a dot matrix display on entry and I use a lot of "enter your numberplate at reception" places and have never had an issue.

dave

Thanks Dave for that info, it's what I had hoped/assumed would be the case. Not technically allowed but not silly enough to get flagged up.

One anecdotal story about one traffic police officer and suddenly you've decided that it's "technically not allowed but not silly enough to get flagged up".
Rather large leap of faith there.

Indeed, I've had a stick on plate on the slopey front of my Atom for ten years, ever since I bought the car and picked up a fine for it last month, despite many traffic officers having previously looked at the car.

[PorkInsider]

creatzz said:

Dredging this one back up..


Any idea if just not having a space is an issue, all the rest as standard? So for example on a modern plate:

XXNN XXX
XXNNXXX

Would be shortening the plate slightly as the whole plate looks like one word.

That's gonna look sweet.



If you get pulled it will only be because the coppers want to admire it.

[carreauchompeur]

I think the general consensus with most cops is that minor mis spacing is not a problem, provided characters substantially similar to normal size etc.

Likewise, on non standard cars then as long as there is something reasonably legible somewhere on the front then it doesn’t look like a pisstake… IE off roaders and kit cars etc.

No nos:
-Darkly tinted plates
-Messing about with characters
-Strategic screws
-Black and silver plates (ANPR won’t read them)

My general rule of thumb is that if the ANPR mis reads it, or I can’t ‘decode’ it. It’s a tug!

[Durzel]

Why is it necessarily the case that they’re turning a blind eye to it, or that the “general consensus” is that it’s ok?

It seems more likely that it’s simply lower priority than whatever else they’re currently doing, especially since Police numbers are reduced (how often do you even see a cop car on a day to day basis?), or they’re not in a position to turn around and pull the person over. For all anyone knows they may run an insurance etc check on these cars, even if they aren’t pulling them over.

I would say if one is going to knob about with an incorrect spaced plate you had better make sure that everything else is in order, and you’re not driving like a knob when they spot you, since the duff plate is the perfect (and obvious) reason for a pull to then do a load of other checks, including possibly checking with your insurance if your mods are declared etc, if you spectacularly fail the attitude test.

[FazerBoy]

carreauchompeur said:

I think the general consensus with most cops is that minor mis spacing is not a problem, provided characters substantially similar to normal size etc.

Likewise, on non standard cars then as long as there is something reasonably legible somewhere on the front then it doesn’t look like a pisstake… IE off roaders and kit cars etc.

No nos:
-Darkly tinted plates
-Messing about with characters
-Strategic screws
-Black and silver plates (ANPR won’t read them)

My general rule of thumb is that if the ANPR mis reads it, or I can’t ‘decode’ it. It’s a tug!

What about the increasing number of cars not displaying a front number plate at all? Ordinary cars with ample space for a plate - not exotic hyper-cars.

To me this shows open contempt for the law.

[carreauchompeur]

FazerBoy said:

What about the increasing number of cars not displaying a front number plate at all? Ordinary cars with ample space for a plate - not exotic hyper-cars.

To me this shows open contempt for the law.

It is an utter pisstake, and we stop as many as we can. To be fair, I had my first in months last week where I genuinely believed it had fallen off!

Interestingly the safety camera vans here are targeting this, they came along to the vicinity of a big car meet and dished out a few fines for failing to display/misrepresenting number plates…

[FazerBoy]

carreauchompeur said:

To be fair, I had my first in months last week where I genuinely believed it had fallen off!

It must be so amusing, yet annoying, to have every single culprit claiming their plate had just fallen off!!

I see quite a few now with ‘smoothed bumpers’ with nothing to fix a plate to. Those muppets can’t even use that excuse…

[carreauchompeur]

FazerBoy said:

carreauchompeur said:

To be fair, I had my first in months last week where I genuinely believed it had fallen off!

It must be so amusing, yet annoying, to have every single culprit claiming their plate had just fallen off!!

I see quite a few now with ‘smoothed bumpers’ with nothing to fix a plate to. Those muppets can’t even use that excuse…

I sometimes offer them ANPR roulette whereby they either accept a rectification notice, or continue to claim that it ‘fell off yesterday bruv’ whereupon I plug it into the car ANPR and see that it hasn’t hit a camera for months,,, 🤑

[Armitage.Shanks]

carreauchompeur said:

I think the general consensus with most cops is that minor mis spacing is not a problem, provided characters substantially similar to normal size etc.

Likewise, on non standard cars then as long as there is something reasonably legible somewhere on the front then it doesn’t look like a pisstake… IE off roaders and kit cars etc.

No nos:
-Darkly tinted plates
-Messing about with characters
-Strategic screws
-Black and silver plates (ANPR won’t read them)

My general rule of thumb is that if the ANPR mis reads it, or I can’t ‘decode’ it. It’s a tug!

Seems a sensible approach to me where discretion is used. Most foreign police forces don't operate on a 'discretionary' basis and enforce everything.

Everyone knows the law and choosing to be 'creative' or display otherwise than in accordance with the legislation can't really argue when they get stopped. We can't be far away from the legislation going through Parliament to make it an endorsable offence?

[4rephill]

carreauchompeur said:

FazerBoy said:

carreauchompeur said:

To be fair, I had my first in months last week where I genuinely believed it had fallen off!

It must be so amusing, yet annoying, to have every single culprit claiming their plate had just fallen off!!

I see quite a few now with ‘smoothed bumpers’ with nothing to fix a plate to. Those muppets can’t even use that excuse…

I sometimes offer them ANPR roulette whereby they either accept a rectification notice, or continue to claim that it ‘fell off yesterday bruv’ whereupon I plug it into the car ANPR and see that it hasn’t hit a camera for months,,, ??

How many claim the front plate fell off, but strangely enough, have the plate sat on the dashboard, completely unmarked/undamaged?

They seem very fortunate that the plates always fall off at speeds/in places where no damage is caused to the plate, and, they are able to retrieve the plate immediately, and put it on the dashboard!

Here's a thought: Perhaps the Police could help them out?

When they stop a driver for no front plate, get the excuse that it "fell off yesterday", and find the plate sat on the dashboard, the Officers take out a cordless drill and some nice big self tapping screws, and get the driver to screw the plate onto the front of the car, right there and then, at the roadside.

And if the driver says that the plate doesn't have holes in it, to put the screw through, the Officers take out a drill bit, and get the driver to put holes in the plate, and then screw it onto the car.

That should sort the situation out nicely

[Far Cough]

I see the latest trend is to get a plate with an "X" at the beginning and at the end and then put them right at either end of the plate with a few jumbled up letters and numbers right in the middle of the plate.

FFS , its a numberplate , not you`re X-Box gamer tag.

[AlexRS2782]

Far Cough said:

I see the latest trend is to get a plate with an "X" at the beginning and at the end and then put them right at either end of the plate with a few jumbled up letters and numbers right in the middle of the plate.

FFS , its a numberplate , not you`re X-Box gamer tag.

Based on the ones that normally appear in the reg plate thread on here, the X ----- X plates are, lamely, emulating a kiss rather than being X-Box related.