Is this too harsh?

[billy h]

me and my mate were on our scoots on a bit of a ride, and my mate got pulled up by a copper, he was given a £60 fine and 3 points on his licence for not having on a front l plate, when the policeman told me what was happening, i said i had a spare and i stook that on, but he still wrote the ticket.
does the punshment fit the crime?

[nordschleife fan]

yes this is harsh but not really surprising. I got done many years ago at the age of 17 because my front L plate was stuck around the top of my fork and not displayed flat. As a rider with a provisional licence a condition of your licence is that you must display L plates (the rules for L plates are just as strictly defined as for number plates).

Your mate will now receive 3 points with the conviction code LC20 - not driving in accordance with your licence. This would basically be the same if he had no L plates at all or was riding a bike bigger than a 125cc or 12kw power

[Mad Dave]

Very harsh, a slap on the wrist would have been more appropriate IMHO - unless of course you were both riding in the suicidial fashion that most scooter riders tend to utilise and that was the only thing he could stick you on for?

[sjtscott]

You'd most probably get away with that in London the police generally have more important things to do.
I see loadsa scooters failing to display more than 1 L plate (generally the front one missing) regularly.. pretty much everyday I'd say. But then the riding style (either one of two extremes) tends to give them away before I might even know that an L plate was missing.

[donteatpeople]

I was on the back of my bike with one of my mates on the front cos he has a full licence (was insured) and I’m still on provisional, still had the Ls on and we rode straight past a manned police car and didn’t even get pulled over. Luck of the draw I’m afraid.

[welsh blackbird]

I got fined £10 with £3 costs, plus an endorsement for not having any L plates on my GT250.

Mind you, it was 1977!

[Fire99]

I think points on your license is harsh for not having a front L plate.
I could understand £30 quid fine at worst.

Nice to see the chap, being new to the road, is gonna have a first impression of Police being fair and the punishment fitting the crime! Not!