I noticed a thread on one of the forums about personalised number plates.
Someone who is an ADI says he has bought a personalised plate and is asking if the examiner “would mind” if he made it – for example – A12BC D instead of A12 BCD.
People who buy these things usually do what he is suggesting as standard (they also use yellow/black bolts to make/fill gaps in the letters to change what they look like). Favourite tricks include turning two adjacent 1s into an H by putting a black bolt between them and moving them closer together, and putting a yellow bolt in an O, 0, or other character to make it look like a G or something.
He immediately got a reply advising him that it would fail the MOT, so he should keep a spare set and switch them whenever he takes it in for its MOT. I believe that this reply is from an ex-traffic cop!
Next, there’s a brief argument on how easy it is/isn’t to get plates made which don’t conform to the standard.
Let’s just clarify something: it is illegal. The person who asked the question knows that, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked. All the people who have answered know it, otherwise they wouldn’t have advised on ways around it.
And then there is this comment:
How many posts have there been on this forum about “jobsworth” examiners?! Maybe not at your usual TC, but you’re bound to get one at another TC or someone covering that will refuse to go out.
So, any examiner who refuses to take the car out if it has plates which are illegal is a “jobsworth”. Now we know who the professionals are, don’t we? Can you believe that these people call themselves professional driving instructors, yet openly advocate breaking the Law and suggest ways of concealing the fact?
The original poster says he has a plate which reads A12BC D, so he apparently doesn’t realise the proper format is AB12 CDE or A12 BCD!
Then there was another post to the thread – subsequently deleted – informing everyone that there was no problem using any font you wished. All fonts were “road legal” according to this “expert”. In actual fact (obtained from UKSpeedTraps.co.uk):
- A number plate must be displayed at the front and rear of motor vehicles (with some exceptions)
- Number Plates must be easy to read and meet the British Standard
- Lettering should be black on a white plate at the front and a yellow at the rear
- The background surface should be reflex-reflecting but the characters must not
- There are separate requirements for traditional number plates displayed on vehicles constructed before 1 January 1973
- Lettering and spacing must be of a set size. They must conform to the specification for either plates fitted after 1 September 2001 or plates fitted before 1 September 2001 .
- You must not alter, rearrange or misrepresent the letters or numbers
- Characters must not be moved from one group to the other (e.g. A242 ABC must not be displayed as A242A BC)
- After 1 September 2001 all new number plates must display the new mandatory font (shown above)
- Number plates fitted before 1 September 2001 need not be changed provided the character font used is substantially the same as the one shown above
- Number plates must be replaced if they have been customised with stylised letters and/or figures such as italics
- Number plates must be replaced if they have been customised with fixing bolts that alter the appearance of the letters and/or numbers
I’d expect any professional ADI to be able to find this information quickly, and to abide by the Law. I mean, if you are likely to get points on your licence and jeopardise your career you really would expect someone to check properly first before doing it.
There is a final reply (so far) in the topic thread:
I don’t think that a mis-spaced number plate portrays the correct image for a driving school or any other company vehicle. It says that you don’t really worry about laws and regulations, or at least you choose which ones you will abide by. Not the type of image I’d want my business to portray…
…I have a couple of relatively good plates that rely on being mis-spaced to spell my name. I don’t have either on my driving school car, but do have one on my bike. I’m sure I’ll meet a stroppy policeman one day and I’ll have to change it, but I’ll take my chances until then, and won’t complain if I get done.
You couldn’t make some of this up, could you? This professional driving instructor (supposedly a “fit and proper person”) thinks personalised plates are wrong for a driving school and not the image he’d want his business to portray – then openly admits to having them and using them on a motorbike! He admits that he’ll probably get pulled one day, so he knows he is breaking the law.
I mentioned in a recent post about cancelled driving tests in the bad weather that you could see why we classed ourselves as “professionals”. I was being ironic, of course. I wonder if these people realise the DSA/DVLA can see these posts?
Addendum: Incidentally, people keep asking/searching on “UK car plate font” or similar. It’s called “FE-Schrift”, but there is a free version available here. I got it from dafont.com . However, I suspect many of those searching are looking for a prat font and not the legal one.
What number looks like a “G” on a car number plate?
Yep. Someone found the blog on that search term. If they have to ask, I suppose I could tell them it’s a “1” – after all, if they’re that stupid they probably can’t count up to nine in the first place and shouldn’t even be allowed out on their own.