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Number plate size points or fine ? ? ? ?


cjj
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hi all

recently friends and others have given me a mix of answers to the below question

so i thought i would put it to the forums

if i have a small number plate 5 x 7 for example and get a tug will the police simply

fine me with a lecture

or

will i get 3 points on my license

id appreciate your help people

thanks

C J

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Hmmm, hopefully they would just give you a warning and tell you to change it, probably with a £30 fine id imagine.

Points is a bit harsh for 1st offence but you never know.

For the record i have a 5x7 plate with normal letters and havent had any trouble so far (touch wood) even with the fuzz behind me :unsure:

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Hmmm, hopefully they would just give you a warning and tell you to change it, probably with a £30 fine id imagine.

Points is a bit harsh for 1st offence but you never know.

For the record i have a 5x7 plate with normal letters and havent had any trouble so far (touch wood) even with the fuzz behind me :unsure:

well thats all i thought it was but when a couple of people told me i would get points it put me of

i suppose even the fine would depend if the coppers wife gave it up the night before

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hi all

recently friends and others have given me a mix of answers to the below question

so i thought i would put it to the forums

if i have a small number plate 5 x 7 for example and get a tug will the police simply

fine me with a lecture

or

will i get 3 points on my license

id appreciate your help people

thanks

C J

I'm not sure if points is an option for them, they could certainly tell you to remove it (as it's doesn't conform to the regulations), then issue you with a prohibition notice and you'd be left pushing your bike home - in the worst case.

Remember though, they only need an excuse to stop you, make sure the other stuff is legal and you'd proably get away with a lecture, if you've got iffy rubber, or the 'E' stamp isn't on your can and they may get pedantic.

a good piece of advice (given to me by an ex-trafic cop), the first test to pass when they stop you is the 'attitude' test - so be nice, be polite and friendly (even if you really don't feel like being..)

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If the plate is all on one line it is a definite nick, (£30 and a correction note, so you will be down your local mot centre for a viewing)

Not endorsable though, as it is a construction and use offence.

You are more likely to get away with a small two line plate, so long as it is spaced and set out evenly.

Misrepresent the digits though and it is possible to be prosecuted for attempting to pervert the course of justice if it can be shown you have committed another offence and cannot be readily identified by your reg plate (small plates can still be read by ANPS Readers if they are in the correct format).

So get stopped for speeding accross the double whites with a plate that cannot be auto read, with a "race use only" end can and tyres that say "not for use on the public highway" and you WILL go to jail without passing "go" and £200 wont cover it, .........................Will it KIM? :unsure:

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If the plate is all on one line it is a definite nick, (£30 and a correction note, so you will be down your local mot centre for a viewing)

Not endorsable though, as it is a construction and use offence.

You are more likely to get away with a small two line plate, so long as it is spaced and set out evenly.

Misrepresent the digits though and it is possible to be prosecuted for attempting to pervert the course of justice if it can be shown you have committed another offence and cannot be readily identified by your reg plate (small plates can still be read by ANPS Readers if they are in the correct format).

So get stopped for speeding accross the double whites with a plate that cannot be auto read, with a "race use only" end can and tyres that say "not for use on the public highway" and you WILL go to jail without passing "go" and £200 wont cover it, .........................Will it KIM? :unsure:

I was stopped because of illegal number plate on my car. The copper was in a good mood so just gave a lecture and asked me to take the car to a police station within 7 days with legal plates attached.

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cheers all

the 5x7 plates are on order

just need to get the tail tidy sorted and some indicators

totally new to this so keen for hints n tips

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(small plates can still be read by ANPS Readers if they are in the correct format).

excuse my ignorance ANPS ???????

ANPR = Automatic Registration Plate Readers...........Bastard cameras that see your number plate, put it through the system....that checks for insurance, tax and markers that say your vehicle wants pulling over...Bailiffs use them 2 to clamp vehicles that have failed to pay tickets.

Ive a slightly smaller plate on my ZZR1100...but the letters are silver...after 30ft, you cant read the plate....havnt had any bother with it....yet.

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  • 2 weeks later...

ANPR = Automatic Registration Plate Readers...........Bastard cameras that see your number plate, put it through the system....that checks for insurance, tax and markers that say your vehicle wants pulling over...Bailiffs use them 2 to clamp vehicles that have failed to pay tickets.

Ive a slightly smaller plate on my ZZR1100...but the letters are silver...after 30ft, you cant read the plate....havnt had any bother with it....yet.

I got stoped the other day for my plate on me r6 and that gave him a chance to have a good look at every think he could lay his eyes on .

gave me a good telling off and said he could give me 3 points for the plate 3 for me can but i just played dum and said sorry i didnt no and thats how it came LOL :D

so i got a £30 fine and a good telling off ....

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I got stoped the other day for my plate on me r6 and that gave him a chance to have a good look at every think he could lay his eyes on .

gave me a good telling off and said he could give me 3 points for the plate 3 for me can but i just played dum and said sorry i didnt no and thats how it came LOL :D

so i got a £30 fine and a good telling off ....

I have insured many people over the years with convictions but have never come across anyone getting points for a plate, a fine is rare but does happen and you usually have to get the plate changed and a form stamped by an mot centre to confirm that the bike is now "road legal"

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I'll add my contraversial two-penneth here. Why do people even want to change the size of their plate? OK, the regulation size may not look overly clever but the plate is there to be recognized both by the Fuzz and others, should you do something wayward. Fitting a small plate won't make the bike any more aerodynamic.

I always felt that anyone, whether it be city wide boys in Beemer 5s sporting calligraphy text plates or Vale wannabes putting a postage stamp-sized plate on their R1 are actively seeking a collar by her Majesty's finest (and no, I'm not a copper). By disguising the plate (IMO) you are openly hiding something, if that's not a contradiction. "If I've got a small plate, the cops are less likely to get the number as I fly past." would be a common argument.

I know we are all guilty of selecting which laws we are happy to abide by and which ones are inconvenient but if you do get collared, then you have no one else to blame. Before I get accused of just being a killjoy, how many people would take their bike to an MoT station with the small plate and race can fitted?

It may be a styling thing but people can't complain if they do get stopped and receive a fine for a small plate, knowing that their plate doesn't conform. We're all quick to jump on the dodgy car plates but still do it ourselves.

I will make a concession, mind. Being collared for a small plate might be more palatable if car drivers moving their plate letters and numbers around also got the same treatment. Sadly, I can't see that ever happening. Bike riders are even easier targets than car drivers, I think.

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I have an 8 by 6, and it passed an MOT with it no questions asked. I would not go as small as 5 x 7, as that is pushing the boundaries a bit too far I think.

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I will make a concession, mind. Being collared for a small plate might be more palatable if car drivers moving their plate letters and numbers around also got the same treatment. Sadly, I can't see that ever happening.

SRJ - I'm with you on 99.9% of what you said except for the above - a very good friend of mine got a very nasty letter from the local fuzz because the number plate on her Range Rover had the spacing of the letters altered to spell out her name. The charaters themselves were standard size and font. Basically, the letter went along the lines of 'we know where you live - get the plate changed or you're nicked!'

For the rest of you the vehicle construction and use regulations pertaining to number plates are on the web and stipulate everything from the format of the plate, acceptable fonts, letter size, spacing between letters and lines to the width of the margins around the outside of the plate - deviation is an offence. No I not a copper either!

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  • 4 weeks later...

If the plate is all on one line it is a definite nick, (£30 and a correction note, so you will be down your local mot centre for a viewing)

Not endorsable though, as it is a construction and use offence.

You are more likely to get away with a small two line plate, so long as it is spaced and set out evenly.

Misrepresent the digits though and it is possible to be prosecuted for attempting to pervert the course of justice if it can be shown you have committed another offence and cannot be readily identified by your reg plate (small plates can still be read by ANPS Readers if they are in the correct format).

So get stopped for speeding accross the double whites with a plate that cannot be auto read, with a "race use only" end can and tyres that say "not for use on the public highway" and you WILL go to jail without passing "go" and £200 wont cover it, .........................Will it KIM? :unsure:

It is an arrestable offence, but I have never heard of anyone being arrested soley for that offence, it is usually something far more serious....like the bike being nicked in the 1st place.

The number plate offence has a £30 fine and as you say is Non-Endorsable and comes from this piece of legislation: Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001.

ANPR = Automatic Registration Plate Readers...........Bastard cameras that see your number plate, put it through the system....that checks for insurance, tax and markers that say your vehicle wants pulling over...Bailiffs use them 2 to clamp vehicles that have failed to pay tickets.

Ive a slightly smaller plate on my ZZR1100...but the letters are silver...after 30ft, you cant read the plate....havnt had any bother with it....yet.

And not being too picky but it is Automatic Number Plate Reader :lol:

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cops wont just pull you for the plate

you should have been down Boxhill May bank holiday, of the 10 bikes i was with 8 got pulled & fined for small number plates. Found out later that the local council had requested the heavy police prescence, because of bikes speeding through local villages ect & thr local busybodies not able to read the plates. :rolleyes:

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All i would like to know is where in the law does it specify a number plate size, it is just the letter size and spacing that is specified and then a 11mm border

DVLA PDF on the subject

Number plates

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cops wont just pull you for the plate

Yes they will Geoff.

If the letters and numbers are not of the standard required size, or they have been altered to spell out names etc, then they will pull you just for that, give you a fine for displaying an illegal plate and send you on your way.

They do it a lot round here - especially on a sunday.

But i agree that there are far too many bluddy cars with illegal plates - hundreds of them near me spelling "Abdul", "Khan" or other such names.

Annoys the hell out of me it does. :angry:

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