The maximum fine's and points are banded about to try and frighten people into toeing the line. The maximum punishments are intended for repeat offenders who blatantly take the p!ss.
Getting pulled over a couple of times every six months won't land you in this category.
This is exactly the same as car tax. In my younger days I was stopped a couple of times for having no tax, but was never fined the ?1000 that was always threatened.
As for not getting any help from the DVLA, I'm not surprised, as they're a bunch of two-faced robbers!!!
At the end of the day, they sell you number plates for thousands of pounds that (for the most) mean nothing, unless you play with the spacing and/or letters, yet they tell you in big disclaimers that you shouldn't do it, and that if you shouldn't buy the plate if thats your intention!!! What a joke. Why would you spend thoudsands on a plate that says nothing, unless you were going to have a fiddle with it s it looked like something???!!!
They know full well that unless you really ignore the police after being stopped 10 times in a week for having a dodgy plate, you aren't going to get the big fine, but because they are a government establishemnt, they have to agree with the police, so they avoid answering your questions.
