BMW drivers most likely to have dodgy licence plates

BMW drivers are the most likelytohaveaillegalnumber plate on their car, according to police data.

The single marque accounted for 13 per cent of all cases revealed under a Freedom of Information request looking into number platerelated offences.

Data from 22 police forces across the UK covering 20152017 shows that 1,998 BMW drivers were stopped for breaching the rules, ahead of Volkswagens (1,442) and Fords (1,424). At the other end of the table, only 12 Aston Martins and 13 Rolls-Royces were spotted with dodgy plates.

Theanalysis,byRegtransfers.co.uk also shows that Lamborghini drivers were responsible for more offences (109) than Skoda owners (107).

The data showed that whiledriverscanbepunished for driving without a plate or with an indistinguishable registration mark, the vast majority of offences recorded were for plates that did not conform to regulations.

This covers actions such as changing the font, angle or spacing of characters or using a bolt or screw to alter the appearance of the registration number. It also covers theuseofalternativecolours, stickersorbackgroundswith patterns or images on them.

While tweaking a registration plate might seem like a bit of fun it can cost drivers dearly.Atthelowerendofthe scale it can mean an MOT failure but the offence carries a maximum fine of £1,000 and loss of the registration number.

The Greater London area had the highest number of offences at 3,058. But taking into account population figures, second placed North Wales (1,381) actually had the highest concentration of offenders, with 204 offences per 100,000 inhabitants.