Where to acquire legal pressed metal plates?

[TooMany2cvs]

LewG said:

I believe the black/silver pressed metal plates are only legal on vehicles first registered pre-1973 but at the end of the day who's it hurting?

Rolling 40 now, with the historic VED. Somebody dropped a bit of a boob in one bit of legislation, so other bits had to be amended sharpish.

They're still anachronistic on anything post about 1968 or so, except for 1980s London buses...

[vsonix]

corozin said:

There is no such thing as pressed metal plates that are legal. The law dictates construction material cannot be metal

No it doesn't. The law states the font must be Charles Wright, it must be white at the front and yellow at the back unless the car is old enough to legally have had a black and silver plate. The spacing must be correct, there should be no adornments other than a 'euro' or 'GB' sticker (subject to change soon, I guess), the background must be reflective and there should be a 'BSAU' type approval mark. Oh, and the issuing dealer or plate manufacturer's number needs to be there too. Most pressed plate vendors will issue you with a certificate of conformity that you can keep in your glovebox to wave at any overzealous members of the law community that may attempt to take you to task over this unorthodox and obviously highly dangerous form of number plate. However it is not legal to use non-UK font so pressed plates that are pretending to be German are a 'no' even though they are usually overlooked, until you piss someone off, then all of a sudden they are about as serious as stabbing someone.

[InitialDave]

I'm genuinely surprised some wag hasn't said "Germany".

[Riley Blue]

InitialDave said:

I'm genuinely surprised some wag hasn't said "Germany".

Or one of many other countries.

[The Mad Monk]

LewG said:

I believe the black/silver pressed metal plates are only legal on vehicles first registered pre-1973 but at the end of the day who's it hurting?

Weeelll.

The government decided to introduce reflective from whenever, because their experts considered that, being reflective, they would show up better, particularly at night, and increased visibility would increase road safety.

Or do you think you should be able to pick and choose which laws to obey?

[832ark]

Unless period correct I always assume massive bellend when I see pressed metal plates.

[sparks_E39]

832ark said:

Unless period correct I always assume massive bellend when I see pressed metal plates.

But why? If legal what's the issue?

[TheAngryDog]

sparks_E39 said:

832ark said:

Unless period correct I always assume massive bellend when I see pressed metal plates.

But why? If legal what's the issue?

Because PH. He needed to be controversial to try and appeal to some PHer's.

[Gareth79]

Regarding legality, I think BS AU 145d does require it to be plastic (I'll dig out my PDF of it later), but SI 561 2001 enables a car to use plates made to an EU country's standard so long as it's of an "equivalent" performance:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/schedu...

"1. The plate must be made of retroreflecting material which, as regards its construction, colour and other qualities, complies with the requirements of—

(a)the British Standard specification for retroreflecting number plates published on 15 January 1998 under number BS AU 145d(1), or

(b)any other relevant standard or specification recognised for use in an EEA State and which, when in use, offers a performance equivalent to that offered by a plate complying with the British Standard specification,

and which, in either case, is marked with the number (or such other information as is necessary to permit identification) of that standard or specification. "

[CraigyMc]

BS AU 145d (which is the standard to which the plates are built) specifies that they are made from acrylic.

[ashleyman]

Can I use a metal number plate?

BNMA is a member of the BSI panel which is revising the number plate standard BS AU 145d:1998 “Specification for retroreflecting number plates”. This task group also includes representatives from DfT, ACPO, Home Office and the Home Office Centre for Applied Science and Technology

The objective is to update this 1998 standard in the light of modern requirements and to update testing where appropriate in order to maintain performance standards.

This draft standard (BS AU 145e) will be available for consultation shortly. BNMA customers will see little change as most work has been around the perfomance of the reflective materials themselves. There is likely to be a requirement, however, that plate fixings should not intrude into the area of the plate containing the registration characters and that the characters should be uniform black in nature. This is intended to reinforce the existing requirement for fixings not to interfere with readings - see 11.3 of The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001. No reference will be made to character spacing and design, incidentally, as this is also fully covered in the 2001 Regulations.

The current standard is a performance standard and the panel is keen that it remains non-prescriptive ie the standard does not require the plates to be made of any particular materials as long as they meet the performance requirements - this is designed to encourage innovation by industry. This means for example that in effect that either plastic or metal plates can be used, and this principle will be carried forward into the new standard.

https://www.bnma.org/faqs.html



7 Number plate design specification

Vehicles manufactured after 1 January 1973 must display number plates:
n made of a reflective material
n with a white background at the front of the vehicle and a yellow background at the back of the vehicle, and with black letters and numbers.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...

Edited by ashleyman on Thursday 22 June 12:06

[KevinCamaroSS]

Statutory Instrument 2001 No. 561 Road Traffic, The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 defines what is allowable.

Schedule 2 Part 1 Sections 1-3 describe the allowable material. This refers to BSAU145D from 1998 which states the number plate must be made of acrylic.

Metal number-plates are therefore illegal in the UK.

[ashleyman]

KevinCamaroSS said:

Statutory Instrument 2001 No. 561 Road Traffic, The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 defines what is allowable.

Schedule 2 Part 1 Sections 1-3 describe the allowable material. This refers to BSAU145D from 1998 which states the number plate must be made of acrylic.

Metal number-plates are therefore illegal in the UK.

This is the full schedule you describe

SCHEDULE 2
REQUIREMENTS FOR REGISTRATION PLATES

PART 1
VEHICLES REGISTERED AND NEW REGISTRATION PLATES FITTED ON OR AFTER 1ST SEPTEMBER 2001 (MANDATORY SPECIFICATION)

1. The plate must be made of retroreflecting material which, as regards its construction, colour and other qualities, complies with the requirements of—

(a)the British Standard specification for retroreflecting number plates published on 15 January 1998 under number BS AU 145d(1), or
(b)any other relevant standard or specification recognised for use in an EEA State and which, when in use, offers a performance equivalent to that offered by a plate complying with the British Standard specification,
and which, in either case, is marked with the number (or such other information as is necessary to permit identification) of that standard or specification.

2. Where the registration mark is displayed on the front of the vehicle, it must have black characters on a white background.

3. Where the registration mark is displayed on the back of the vehicle, it must have black characters on a yellow background.

This is the legislation it points too

https://www.bnma.org/legislation.html

I do not see where it says

the number plate must be made of acrylic.

Please show your sources.

[V8 TEJ]

KevinCamaroSS said:

Statutory Instrument 2001 No. 561 Road Traffic, The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 defines what is allowable.

Schedule 2 Part 1 Sections 1-3 describe the allowable material. This refers to BSAU145D from 1998 which states the number plate must be made of acrylic.

Metal number-plates are therefore illegal in the UK.

This is correct.

I used to have some on a 1987 BMW E28 I had about 4 years ago. I was travelling to work on the motorway and was pulled over by the old bill. The copper at the time said that my plates are illegal due to being made of metal. They are not MADE from reflective material so are therefore illegal. Metal plates are sprayed with a reflective paint so of course are not made from reflective material. He also decided to give me a £100 fine (don't know if it's gone up since) and reported me to the DVLA even though it was my first number plate offence.

[ashleyman]

V8 TEJ said:

KevinCamaroSS said:

Statutory Instrument 2001 No. 561 Road Traffic, The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 defines what is allowable.

Schedule 2 Part 1 Sections 1-3 describe the allowable material. This refers to BSAU145D from 1998 which states the number plate must be made of acrylic.

Metal number-plates are therefore illegal in the UK.

This is correct.

I used to have some on a 1987 BMW E28 I had about 4 years ago. I was travelling to work on the motorway and was pulled over by the old bill. The copper at the time said that my plates are illegal due to being made of metal. They are not MADE from reflective material so are therefore illegal. Metal plates are sprayed with a reflective paint so of course are not made from reflective material. He also decided to give me a £100 fine (don't know if it's gone up since) and reported me to the DVLA even though it was my first number plate offence.

"normal" plastic plates are illegal then as the plastic isn't reflective it's the sticky bit on top of the backing that is. The 3M backing material is the same as the paint is on a pressed plate. There's nothing in any of the legislation that dictates what a plate is made of just that it must be reflective. On the BNMA FAQ page is talks about metal plates and they state

"The current standard is a performance standard and the panel is keen that it remains non-prescriptive ie the standard does not require the plates to be made of any particular materials as long as they meet the performance requirements - this is designed to encourage innovation by industry."

They say it themselves so all this talk of number plates must be plastic is a load of rubbish. Nobody is actually posting sources to legislation, law or guidelines to back up that plates must be plastic.

[CraigyMc]

ashleyman said:

This is the legislation it points too

https://www.bnma.org/legislation.html

I do not see where it says

the number plate must be made of acrylic.

Please show your sources.

On the page you linked to (https://www.bnma.org/legislation.html), it says this:

read your own links said:

COMPONENTS

The new British Standard requires the following:-
Acrylic

A new toughened acrylic has been introduced with a stronger impact.

[ashleyman]

CraigyMc said:

ashleyman said:

This is the legislation it points too

https://www.bnma.org/legislation.html

I do not see where it says

the number plate must be made of acrylic.

Please show your sources.

On the page you linked to (https://www.bnma.org/legislation.html), it says this:

read your own links said:

COMPONENTS

The new British Standard requires the following:-
Acrylic

A new toughened acrylic has been introduced with a stronger impact.

And the legislation doesn't say it MUST be made of a specific material.

[V8 TEJ]

I couldn't argue with the copper, he said what he said, and gave me a £100 fine at the roadside

I tried to raise the point about the reflective film. He said "Yes, there is a sticky film used which is sandwiched in between 2 layers. This means it is made of reflective material as opposed to being sprayed which can get chipped/damaged easier"

Edited by V8 TEJ on Thursday 22 June 12:40

Edited by V8 TEJ on Thursday 22 June 12:50

[KevinCamaroSS]

ashleyman said:

This is the full schedule you describe

SCHEDULE 2
REQUIREMENTS FOR REGISTRATION PLATES

PART 1
VEHICLES REGISTERED AND NEW REGISTRATION PLATES FITTED ON OR AFTER 1ST SEPTEMBER 2001 (MANDATORY SPECIFICATION)

1. The plate must be made of retroreflecting material which, as regards its construction, colour and other qualities, complies with the requirements of—

(a)the British Standard specification for retroreflecting number plates published on 15 January 1998 under number BS AU 145d(1), or
(b)any other relevant standard or specification recognised for use in an EEA State and which, when in use, offers a performance equivalent to that offered by a plate complying with the British Standard specification,
and which, in either case, is marked with the number (or such other information as is necessary to permit identification) of that standard or specification.

2. Where the registration mark is displayed on the front of the vehicle, it must have black characters on a white background.

3. Where the registration mark is displayed on the back of the vehicle, it must have black characters on a yellow background.

This is the legislation it points too

https://www.bnma.org/legislation.html

I do not see where it says

the number plate must be made of acrylic.

Please show your sources.

Part 1 Section 1 a references BSAU 145D which makes the statement that it must be acrylic. Section 1 b allows EEA states construction provided it meets the BS which metal does not.

BSAU145D states the following:

COMPONENTS

The new British Standard requires the following:-

Acrylic

A new toughened acrylic has been introduced with a stronger impact. Due to the process involved in the manufacture, this acrylic absorbs more light.

Reflective

This has improved reflectivity due to the extra light absorption of the acrylic.

My assumption is that we are talking about modern cars.

[CraigyMc]

ashleyman said:

CraigyMc said:

ashleyman said:

This is the legislation it points too

https://www.bnma.org/legislation.html

I do not see where it says

the number plate must be made of acrylic.

Please show your sources.

On the page you linked to (https://www.bnma.org/legislation.html), it says this:

read your own links said:

COMPONENTS

The new British Standard requires the following:-
Acrylic

A new toughened acrylic has been introduced with a stronger impact.

And the legislation doesn't say it MUST be made of a specific material.

So, you stated that it didn't say the thing, I pointed out where it said the thing and now you're making a new argument?

fk off troll.