Where to acquire legal pressed metal plates?

[sparks_E39]

Just to be clear the plates are of the white and yellow variety.

[Burnzyb]

Don't know if you've got it sorted yet sparks but this company I've used lots of times, plates always perfect and last, my daily gets used all weathers and they look like new still, for the price I wouldn't even bother looking elsewhere.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321763448869

[KevinCamaroSS]

B'stard Child said:

Oh dear - do I need to remove the metal plates from my 1972 Opel

If I did does that mean I have to replace them with plastic or can I replace like for like?

Of course not, your car and plates pre-date the legislation. You could also transfer the registration to a new car and still use the original plates as the plates were made pre-legislation.

[HedgeyGedgey]

KevinCamaroSS said:

You could also transfer the registration to a new car and still use the original plates as the plates were made pre-legislation.

I didnt know that, my old man just confirmed this as well
Feel the need to go buy an old plate just to be annoying lol

Edited by HedgeyGedgey on Friday 23 June 17:38

[B'stard Child]

KevinCamaroSS said:

B'stard Child said:

Oh dear - do I need to remove the metal plates from my 1972 Opel

If I did does that mean I have to replace them with plastic or can I replace like for like?

Of course not, your car and plates pre-date the legislation. You could also transfer the registration to a new car and still use the original plates as the plates were made pre-legislation.

Yeah it was a bit of a piddle take post........

In all seriousness - Not if they are black and white and I put them on a new car

[spanky3]

hornmeister said:

I have metal pressed plates which have the BS AU145d marking on them.

As I understand it as long as they're reflective and conform to font/size/spacing/colour have the BS number and postcode of the manufacturer on they're legal.

Many people selling them on Amazon and elsewhere. Mine were less than £20 including mounting plates.

In my opinion they're smarter more durable and more legible than acrylic. But because I have them I'm apparently a "massive bell end."

Plates aside that photo has reminded me how dreadful/twee current merc grills are.

[Hol]

HedgeyGedgey said:

KevinCamaroSS said:

You could also transfer the registration to a new car and still use the original plates as the plates were made pre-legislation.

I didnt know that, my old man just confirmed this as well
Feel the need to go buy an old plate just to be annoying lol

Edited by HedgeyGedgey on Friday 23 June 17:38

Better if you check with your dad, before you do.

[Mr2Mike]

hornmeister said:

I have metal pressed plates which have the BS AU145d marking on them.

How can a metal plate comply to BS AU145d when that standard only specifies an acrylic material?

spanky3 said:

Plates aside that photo has reminded me how dreadful/twee current merc grills are.

The very definition of gauche.

Edited by Mr2Mike on Saturday 24th June 13:19

[shakotan]

Mr2Mike said:

hornmeister said:

I have metal pressed plates which have the BS AU145d marking on them.

How can a metal plate comply to BS AU145d when that standard only specifies an acrylic material?

NO. IT. DOESN'T.

BSAU145D by νιᴩ, on Flickr

Edited to upload photo, as a screencap doesn't capture the pop-over window of search result failure.

20170624_143106 by νιᴩ, on Flickr

Edited by shakotan on Saturday 24th June 14:34

[shakotan]

Final coffin nail.

20170624_143614[1] by νιᴩ, on Flickr

[Gareth79]

KevinCamaroSS said:

Of course not, your car and plates pre-date the legislation. You could also transfer the registration to a new car and still use the original plates as the plates were made pre-legislation.

That is not correct. All the regulations for registration plates refer to the date of first registration for the vehicle. If the registration mark for a 1972 vehicle was transferred to a (say) 2012 vehicle then it would need plates made to the current standards, ie. black on white and yellow numbers, in the new typeface.

[shakotan]

Gareth79 said:

KevinCamaroSS said:

Of course not, your car and plates pre-date the legislation. You could also transfer the registration to a new car and still use the original plates as the plates were made pre-legislation.

That is not correct. All the regulations for registration plates refer to the date of first registration for the vehicle. If the registration mark for a 1972 vehicle was transferred to a (say) 2012 vehicle then it would need plates made to the current standards, ie. black on white and yellow numbers, in the new typeface.

Ha, I missed this one.

That's definitely not true either.

Either the number plate or the vehicle has to comply with the relevant Law, whichever is manufactured later.

Replacing a numberplate on your 1984 Golf? It has to conform to the latest Legislation because the plate is manufactured in the year 2017. The only exemption to this is the Black on Silver rule for Historic Vehicles.

Tranferring a plate from a 1966 car to your brand new Range Rover? The plate has to conform to the latest Legislation because the vehicle is manufactured/registered in 2017. The plate loses it's 'black on silver' exemption because the vehicle it is applied to doesn't qualify for historic status, and even if they were white and yellow plates on a historic car, you still can't physically transfer the old number plate from one vehicle to another as the 2017 RR has to display plates conforming to the newest Legislation.

[InitialDave]

I can understand the confusion. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they'd cocked up the legislation wording to say, for example, a 1970 reg number was allowed black plates, regardless of what car it was actually attached to.

I've had a few people tell me this was the case, and it was a bit of effort trying to find if they hadn't actually gone and written that somewhere.

[the tribester]

Have the suppliers of these pressed steel plates, or the suppliers of the base materials submitted them for BS testing?, or have they just put the BS marking on them?
I mean, if they just make the plates in plained timber, paint them yellow and endorse it with BSAU145d it would seem to make some posters here happy.

I have flexi plates on my trail bikes, bearing BS markings, but the supplier hasn't gone through the BS process with the materials, because it is very expensive to do.

I think the original idea of dictating the spec for plates and needing to be a registered number plate supplier was more to do with the supply of clone plates. Clearly by the number of internet based un-registered suppliers and the C124PPY plates posts, this idea failed miserably.

[shakotan]

InitialDave said:

I can understand the confusion. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they'd cocked up the legislation wording to say, for example, a 1970 reg number was allowed black plates, regardless of what car it was actually attached to.

I've had a few people tell me this was the case, and it was a bit of effort trying to find if they hadn't actually gone and written that somewhere.

It depends where they read it. If they read the acutal Legislation, its quite clear...

Display of Registration Marks Legislation said:

Specifications for registration plates

10.—(1) A registration mark must be displayed on a registration plate conforming to the
requirements prescribed by this regulation
.
(2) In the case of a vehicle first registered on or after 1st September 2001 the registration plate
must conform to the requirements set out in Part 1 of Schedule 2.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), in the case of a vehicle first registered on or after 1st January 1973
but before 1st September 2001 the registration plate must conform either to the requirements set out
in Part 2 of Schedule 2 or to the requirements set out in Part 1 of that Schedule.

(4) Where on or after 1st September 2001 a new registration plate is fixed to a vehicle to which
paragraph (3) applies to replace a plate previously fixed thereto, the plate must conform to the
requirements set out in Part 1 of Schedule 2.

(5) In the case of a vehicle first registered before 1st January 1973, the registration plate must
conform either to one of the requirements set out in Part 3 of Schedule 2 or to the requirements set
out in Part 2 of that Schedule or to the requirements set out in Part 1 of that Schedule.


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(13),

(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.


PART 2 - VEHICLES REGISTERED ON OR AFTER 1ST JANUARY 1973 AND BEFORE 1ST SEPTEMBER 2001 (OPTIONAL SPECIFICATION)

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

(a) the British Standard Specification for reflex-reflecting number plates, published on 11
September 1972 under the number BS AU 145a(14), 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.


PART 3 - VEHICLES REGISTERED BEFORE 1ST JANUARY 1973 (OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS)

Requirements where the vehicle carries a registration plate which is constructed so that
the mark may be illuminated from behind by virtue of the translucency of its characters.

1. The registration mark must be formed of white translucent characters on a black background
on the surface of that plate.

2. When the registration mark is illuminated during the hours of darkness, the characters on that
plate must appear white against a black background.

The problem comes when people gain information from Third Party sources, where the translation of the Legislation text is often corrupted or watered-down, and that is where confusion arises.

ETA - Confusion DOES arise, however, because the Legislation has not been updated to take into account the decision to link black and white/silver plates to Historic vehicles, hence the two are at odds with each other because the Legilation says 'pre-1973' and the DLVA allow anything 'Historic' which is, at the time of writing', any vehicle registered before 1st April 1977.

Edited by shakotan on Monday 26th June 10:01

[KevinCamaroSS]

Gareth79 said:

KevinCamaroSS said:

Of course not, your car and plates pre-date the legislation. You could also transfer the registration to a new car and still use the original plates as the plates were made pre-legislation.

That is not correct. All the regulations for registration plates refer to the date of first registration for the vehicle. If the registration mark for a 1972 vehicle was transferred to a (say) 2012 vehicle then it would need plates made to the current standards, ie. black on white and yellow numbers, in the new typeface.

Oops, my bad! Indeed you are correct, however IIRC there was a period of time where it was allowed, pre 1985 I think.