Registration plate regulations query

The wording in the ‘Red Champion’ article which appeared in the previous issue sent my brain whirling with a question I couldn’t find the answer to:

‘One story Bill Simmonds remembers was when he went to a National VCB rally in Torbay shortly after the new format, non-black and white number plates were announced. Not to be outdone by this new legislation, Frank matched the yellow and hand-painted and varnished a black and white number plate for the front of his GS and a black and yellow one for the rear. However, one keen-eyed policeman in Torquay spotted them and the result was that Frank was prosecuted because the home-made plates were not legal. Frank hadn’t realised that it wasn’t the colour of the new plates that was the issue, it was the fact that the new ones were reflective!’

I know reflective plates became mandatory in 1973 – but in 1969 I bought a brandnew GP200 which came with the ‘optional’ reflective metal number plates fitted to the front mudguard; these had raised letters and numbers. And going on your comment about Bill, it made me wonder at what point they became ‘optional’ instead of illegal? All the searches I have done just refer back to the mandatory introduction date of 1973?

Sam Unger

[Interesting question – and one we cannot find a definitive answer to; but we do know that on April 19, 1967, a Bill was brought before

Parliament to allow the use of reflective number plates on all road vehicles as an aid to road safety. This followed research from January of that year at the Road Research Laboratory on the subject of ‘A road trial with reflectorised registration plates for motor vehicles’.

This report described a trial started early in 1964 with registration plates reflectorised with the material generally used for UK road traffic signs. This material consists of spherical glass beads embedded within a transparent plastic having a smooth flat outer surface.

The Bill became law in the UK under the resulting Act of Parliament and the new reflectorised number plates became a legal requirement on January 1, 1973. Between the dates quoted above, the new number plates had to be manufactured before they became an optional extra on new motor vehicles. Early adopters were BMC (British Motor Corporation) and anecdotal evidence suggests that the dealerships of this company were fitting reflective plates by 1968 (G suffix numbering). Further anecdotal evidence suggests that scooter dealerships, including the big selling Eddy Grimstead Group, did not fit these reflective plates in 1967 (F suffix numbering). This suggests that they were not available at that time, or (possibly) not seen as appropriate.

If any reader knows the definitive answer to the plate question, then we’d be pleased to hear it].