[Keiron]

I want to get some plates made up - bog standard, nothing fancy.

I know there's a few places but I want one that doesn't use the opportunity to advertise themselves and their website along the bottom - I simply want a plain plate with nothing on other than the reg. Anyone know who can supply such things?

[DVD-Man]

ta da

Fancy Plates UK & Ireland | Manufacturers Of Acrylic Number Plates

Liam

[Artie Fufkin]

I've used these people twice...v. fast service too.

Number Plates - Show Plates - Custom Plates - Bike Number Plates - Online Plate Builder

[ickle]

search dvla registered number plate suppliers.

it is now a legal requirment to have the suppliers name and postcode on the bottom off every plate and a bs stamp

the registered supplier will also need to see your v5 and some form of id from yourself .

the police have started inforcing this with on the spot fines but it will soon come part of the mot aswell


regards stuarty

[neilos100]

Remember though that they are all illegal for road use and you could be stopped by the police and fined up to £1000. All number plates must adhere to British Standard BS AU 145d[2], which must be marked on the plate, along with the name and postcode of the manufacturer and the supplier of the plates. Officially you can use them as show plates only.
See the regulations here....Signam

[Keiron]

Originally Posted by ickle

the registered supplier will also need to see your v5 and some form of id from yourself .

Really? How can they do that online?

[ickle]

no idea about online suppliers

this is for registered number plate suppliers
Search register of number plate suppliers by town or post code.


stuart

[neilos100]

Originally Posted by Keiron

Really? How can they do that online?

Probably because none of their plates meet the relevant standards so they dont bother checking any ID either. So you are not offficially buying a registration plate but a 'show plate' for temporary use only.

[Keiron]

Contacted Show Plates. They confirm that the plates contain absolutely no text or images, just the reg, but that they are indeed just for "show" and not road legal.

What are my chances of getting pulled up for this? I just have a straight forward reg, I'm not putting any bolts in odd places or irregular spacing between letters.

Take a look at this page. We put up all the online plate manufacturers we could find so hopefully... Regfinder | Fitting Number Plates to your Vehicle

Cheers

Rob

[Ayub]

Originally Posted by Keiron

Contacted Show Plates. They confirm that the plates contain absolutely no text or images, just the reg, but that they are indeed just for "show" and not road legal.

What are my chances of getting pulled up for this? I just have a straight forward reg, I'm not putting any bolts in odd places or irregular spacing between letters.

As far as i know, the company or person who made the plate MUST have their details on the plate to trace where it came from.

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by Ayub

As far as i know, the company or person who made the plate MUST have their details on the plate to trace where it came from.

I buy all my private plates from a place called 'showplates', online.
Their plates don't have any identifying marks at all.
We've never had any bother with the police over it, and my wife's (previous) car passed its MOT in April fine too.
It's evidently one of these rules that no-one gives a crap about enforcing.

FYI, our plates just have legal size and font lettering with a black border, nothing else.
My plates also have illegal spacing.
Never been bothered with that either.
I can only assume it's because I have legal font and size.
So they 'sort of' look legal.

[Ron240]

Originally Posted by Keiron

What are my chances of getting pulled up for this? I just have a straight forward reg, I'm not putting any bolts in odd places or irregular spacing between letters.

I would say the chances of getting pulled for that alone would be virtually zero. However....if you were being stopped anyway for another reason, and the copper was being for whatever reason, particularly nasty, then he would be entitled to do you for that as well.

I bought my last plates 18 months ago, they are Euro style with completely standard digits, but they have a Saltire and Lion Rampant flag on left hand side. They have the correct British Standard number on the bottom right hand corner, but they do not have any supplying dealer marking.
I have never had any problem with these plates, although back in 1998 i had plates with a non-standard font(still easily read), and i got a fixed penalty £30 fine for it.
Although i was technically in the wrong....i was unhappy at the circumstances of how that happened, so i went to my local Police headquarters and spoke to an Inspector in charge of Traffic. I showed him the offending plates and explained that i felt i should have at least been given a chance to change the plates first, without immediately going to the next step of issuing a ticket. He was very nice about it all, and agreed that this probably would have been a better course of action, but what was done was done unfortunately.

The way i see it....as long as your plate has a completely standard font and size, then you will not get pulled over for only this. There are far too many other people who are(IMO)taking the **** with the way they represent their registration mark.

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by Ron240

The way i see it....as long as your plate has a completely standard font and size, then you will not get pulled over for only this.

I agree.
Their argument is always based on ANPR systems.
I would guess spacing becomes unimportant to ANPR if you have legal font and size.
As does crap about dealer details/postcodes etc.etc.

[DPinBucks]

Correct number plates are part of the MoT test - see The MOT test for your vehicle : Directgov - Motoring

My wife's 51-reg Focus had to get new plates with the supplier details on before it could pass last year.

Both you and the testing station could get into trouble if they pass it with invalid plates.

[ickle]

at my work we are a number plate supplier and we as a company would be fined £5000 if we were caught supplying anything other than a 100% legal number and a paper work trail to whom we supplied the plate to. that as from january this year.

as far as i am aware they did make it part off the mot and had problems enforcing it so have put it on hold at the moment. we have also had customer coming in going nuts that a number plate we supplied last year had no post code or name etc and they have just been pulled by the fuzz. given a warning and sometimes a fine.

i still have number plates with motorbike letters on my car i made last year but the first warning i get and there off. any form off illegal plate aint worth it now the law is getting tight on these now

stuarty

[dejongj]

An I am one who got pulled over whilst having normal spacing and numbering...It was a routine check as it was late on a Sunday and my car was rather fancy for the neighbourhood (I took a wrong turn with satnav on shortest route) and was about 300 miles away from the registered address....They couldn't pin anything on my other than the 'show' plates as like you I didn't want to advertise someone else...In addition to the fixed penalty, I also had to pay the victims surcharge...That was not funny at all....Chances are low but it will happen one day....

[Stoofa]

MOT centres are being asked to check numberplates.
I know two people who have now failed their MOT because of missing BS numbers.
If you're stopped for anything else that will also be checked.

Why go through the hassle when 100% legal plates are really not that much more expensive?

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by Stoofa

MOT centres are being asked to check numberplates.
I know two people who have now failed their MOT because of missing BS numbers.
If you're stopped for anything else that will also be checked.

Why go through the hassle when 100% legal plates are really not that much more expensive?

As I said before, my wife's car passed its MOT in April this year, without any dealer/BS numbers on the plates at all.
That was at the main Renault dealer too, not some backstreet garage.
Does the MOT checklist have a 'tick' box for these markings?
Be interesting to see if the MOT mechanic ticked the box on our list.
I don't have the car any more, so god knows.

It's not a matter of cost either, for me.
I don't buy plates online because they're cheaper.
I buy them because it's more convenient and they look better.

[William YZF-R1]

I have always bought mine off fleabay, both legal & otherwise.

I used to have the R1 on the plate to match the bike logo but wimped out after getting done for speeding (They never mentioned the plate).

[Stoofa]

Originally Posted by FZR400RRSP

As I said before, my wife's car passed its MOT in April this year, without any dealer/BS numbers on the plates at all.
That was at the main Renault dealer too, not some backstreet garage.
Does the MOT checklist have a 'tick' box for these markings?
Be interesting to see if the MOT mechanic ticked the box on our list.
I don't have the car any more, so god knows.

It's not a matter of cost either, for me.
I don't buy plates online because they're cheaper.
I buy them because it's more convenient and they look better.

That was April - that was over half a year ago.
No there is no "tick box" for these items on the MOT.
However to pass an MOT the numberplate has to conform to UK standards and that means using the one legal font, having the postcode of the supplier and the BSU number printed on it.
These things together form the "number plate" which must be legal to pass the MOT.

You were fine back in April, you might be fine right now.
However you might not.
And if pulled it's a £30 fine - is it really worth it?

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by Stoofa

That was April - that was over half a year ago.
No there is no "tick box" for these items on the MOT.
However to pass an MOT the numberplate has to conform to UK standards and that means using the one legal font, having the postcode of the supplier and the BSU number printed on it.
These things together form the "number plate" which must be legal to pass the MOT.
You were fine back in April, you might be fine right now.
However you might not.
And if pulled it's a £30 fine - is it really worth it?

The rules were like that in April too, but were evidently ignored by the MOT tester.
I can't see things changing so drastically in 6 months that it will be now be a fail.
Is it worth it?
Yes, I'll happily take the minute risk of being pulled and fined for it, because I like 'clean' plates.
I feel qualified to say the risk is minute, as I've been driving for years with unmarked plates and never been pulled.
So, as I said before, I am going to assume they are happy with my legal font and size and are willing to let the other stuff (spacing and marking) go.

[Sandman]

If this is a new rule (having the postcode on the plate), is everybody with older cars expected to go out and buy new number plates or are the rules different on older cars (like the emissions test)?

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by Sandman

is everybody with older cars expected to go out and buy new number plates

No, the rules only apply to plates made after a certain date.
You'd have heard the uproar in the news, if everyone in Britain was being made to go out and buy/fit new plates.

[Ron240]

Originally Posted by FZR400RRSP

No, the rules only apply to plates made after a certain date.

I would be interested to know how they can tell when a plate has been made?
For example...you have a personal number with no year identifier - there is no way of telling when the plate was made...and you cant automatically go by the age of the car, because it is possible that you have used the exact same plate on a previous car, without needing to get new ones made up.

So the plate could either be legal(made before the rule came into force), or illegal(made after the rule came into force), but in both cases, there is no way to check.

I think that for it to work(i admit i dont know), it would need to be taken on the age of the car - newer than a certain date has to conform with all the new regulations, and there can be no exceptions.

It is a very silly rule as far as im concerned.

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by Ron240

I would be interested to know how they can tell when a plate has been made?
For example...you have a personal number with no year identifier - there is no way of telling when the plate was made...and you cant automatically go by the age of the car, because it is possible that you have used the exact same plate on a previous car, without needing to get new ones made up.
So the plate could either be legal(made before the rule came into force), or illegal(made after the rule came into force), but in both cases, there is no way to check.
I think that for it to work(i admit i dont know), it would need to be taken on the age of the car - newer than a certain date has to conform with all the new regulations, and there can be no exceptions.
It is a very silly rule as far as im concerned.

AFAIK, the law was changed in September 2001 and surrounds when the plates are fitted.
Not the age of the car.
So regardless of the age of the car, if you fit new plates they must have the appropriate markings.
How the police are supposed to sort this mess out, god knows.
Are they going to pull over an old car because they think the plates look suspiciously new?
Then ask the driver if he fitted them pre-September 2001, or post-September 2001?
I really hope they'd have better things to do.