Number plates and heavy snow query
Discussion
How does the law work regarding keeping number plates clean and driving in heavy snow? For example, I set off with a wiped down/clean car and I then spend 30mins driving on the M1 in heavy snow and the front plate becomes soiled in slush/snow.
I obviously cannot pull up on hard shoulder and wipe down every few mins. Do you stop at every service station and wipe off? What happens if you are stopped before you get to the next service station, you cannot prove that you cleaned your car, unless you're on a continuous live stream/youtube at the time?
This is a general query on protocol, I've never driven in heavy snow, so haven't had to deal with this. I want to make sure, given that we have had the 1st snow in 10 years here, that if I need to drive I'm not falling foul of the law.
Cheers
I obviously cannot pull up on hard shoulder and wipe down every few mins. Do you stop at every service station and wipe off? What happens if you are stopped before you get to the next service station, you cannot prove that you cleaned your car, unless you're on a continuous live stream/youtube at the time?
This is a general query on protocol, I've never driven in heavy snow, so haven't had to deal with this. I want to make sure, given that we have had the 1st snow in 10 years here, that if I need to drive I'm not falling foul of the law.
Cheers
Sheepshanks said:
Jaetten said:
... you cannot prove that you cleaned your car, unless you're on a continuous live stream/youtube at the time?
It wouldn't matter if you could. It'd still be against the law to have an obscured nember plate.Of course I could just tie the wife to the bonnet with a rag in hand to keep it wiped down! 😅
Derek Smith said:
The legislation takes this into account. The shorthand given to us back in the day was: is the mud damp. In other words, is there a suggestion, proof if you will, that the registration plate was obscured at the start of the journey. If not, then there's a defence.
Thank you. That’s essentially allowing common sense to be applied. Derek Smith said:
The legislation takes this into account. The shorthand given to us back in the day was: is the mud damp. In other words, is there a suggestion, proof if you will, that the registration plate was obscured at the start of the journey. If not, then there's a defence.
That's guidance, not legistation.One would hope common sense would prevail, but if push-came-to-shove you'd have to go through the legal system and hope the Magistrate agreed with you.
you would think if its bad enough to cover number plates they would out dealing with crashes and blocked roads
if pulled over ..."yes its about that front plate" bend over and wipe it off? would be a mighty jobsworth officer to hassle you over that , but i guess theres plenty of those now
if pulled over ..."yes its about that front plate" bend over and wipe it off? would be a mighty jobsworth officer to hassle you over that , but i guess theres plenty of those now
t! That's another million pound down the drain then!!
BertBert said:
I can't really bring myself to believe this is a serious question!
I agree that it's a rather 'anxious' question but there is a wide range of how people interpret the rules. As an example I'm on an i3 owners' forum and in a recent post one owner made a comment that 'as soon as you see a warning about an indicator light not working then you should stop the car and arrange for it to be transported somewhere to be repaired'. His argument was that as a non-functional indicator would be an MoT fail it therefore immediately rendered the car unroadworthy and as the indicators are LED units then they can't be replaced by the roadside and so you can't continue your journey. The idea of calling a flat-bed because your indicator has stopped working was utterly barking but that was his absolute interpretation of the rules. It's all part of life's rich tapestry.
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