Don’t let the police get your number!

Any stories or scams? Contact me via dean.dunham@reachplc.com

PRIVATE number plates are now very common with vehicle owners paying sometimes thousands of pounds for a plate that is associated with their name, business or favourite sports team. But as these readers have told me, there are various regulations relating to personalised number plates which, if flouted, can land vehicle owners in trouble:

Lee, from Doncaster, bought a private plate.To make it look like the word he wanted he had the plate remade so that there was no spacing between the first and second group of letters. In July 2019 he was stopped by the police and informed this was illegal. He ended up with a £1,000 fine.

The rule is that there must be a 33mm space between the groups of letters.

George, from Leeds, discovered that if he repositioned the screws on his private plate that the screws would make the plate look more like the word he wanted. This landed him a £1,000 fine.

The rule is that you must not obscure a number plate in any way.

Ashwin, from London, applied a tinted film to his number plate. He was stopped by police and informed that this was illegal. Ashwin has been informed that he is going to be prosecuted so turned to me to ask if this is illegal. I can confirm that it is illegal as it is believed that the effect of applying tint to a number plate is that speed cameras cannot pick up clearly on the letters on the plate.

Abigail received a private plate for Christmas. It was created in a font that matched the theme of the word on the plate. Within three days she was stopped by police. Luckily after promising to remove it as soon as she got home, she did not receive any fine. Only the DVLA’s standard font is allowed.