German Plates and the Law

[J5H VW]

Hi Guys,

I have some private plates on my car, and they have one character mis-spaced.  I got pulled over last night, got a £30 fine.

My question is, do the police keep a record of the fact that I have been pulled up for this?  IE: Do I need to change the plates to correct spacing?  If I left them as they are, would I get done hard if pulled over again?

Also - Does there have to be a space between the characters on the plate? For example...

Illegal:      A1 AA A
Legal:       A1 AAA
Not Sure:  A1AAA

He said he pulled me for the letters being not correctly spaced, did not mention anything about them being German plates. 

Any advice chaps?

[Horney]

Plate law is well documented on here if you have a search.

Esentially:

* Must be UK
* Must be correctly spaced
* No funny screw locations
* No borders
* Only EU symbol on one end
* Must be BSE (or whatever) marked
* Must have post code of plate maker
* Must be white front, yellow rear
* Must be plastic and reflective

If you break any of these you will likely get fined as you found out. I'm not sure but I think they mark you down as having been pulled for it and if they catch you again they can remove the plate form your car meaning you have to get it re registered or something.

Nick

[Komenda]

They will keep a record of the offence, and if you get pulled for the same thing they will pull your pants down.

A1 AAA is the only option you have with that amount of digits all other spacing is illegal.

German plates are illegal, so if you got pulled by another copper and he fined you for the plates, even if correctly spaced, he would be quite within his rights to do so. Ignorance is not a defence.

Saying that I have German plates on my Mk1 (correctly spaced) and the boys in blue I've come across don't see them as an issue

[Llewellyn]

Lots of dealers make plates up that have borders tho...hmmm

[J5H VW]

Damn - guess I have to go standard again.

I was thinkin that if it was correctly spaced, but German, I might get away with it.  Only risk is if they keep a record it having been pulled over before.

[billy_vw]

I was informed by a not so nice policeman 

He will report me to DVLA about my incorrect spacing on my plate B111 YVW = BillY VW
And if DVLA receive a total of 3 incidents, that DVLA will re-claim the registration.

So I have changed the one on the rear to iliminate them sneeking up behind me, But keeping the 1 on the front until i get a telling off again 

[JC]

if you get caught 3 times for ALTERING the lettering of a private plate not only will DVLA withdraw it - they will issue your car with a Q Plate.  Not a good thing to happen

I know these things 

[mk2mark]

I'm probably not going to be popular saying this, but what is the obsession with the alternative plates? It's like you're upset that your car's English/wherever you're from. Although it's not as bad as here in Ireland where you get the odd dickhead sporting a yellow plate on the back. No offence to anyone intended with that comment, my point is just have a bit of pride in where you're from. Maybe I'm missing the point, but either way if it's the law to have your plates a certain way, I don't understand why people can't put up with that, it's not like they're pink or something.

[Andy!]

mmm pink plates huh? Theres a thought Leonard/Alpinehead!!!

[Diamond Hell]

I'm probably not going to be popular saying this

Makes you very popular with me.  Number plate-related whining bugs the hell out of me.

I don't get this dumb-assed obsession, either.  It's an identity mark for your vehicle, not a f*cking lifestyle.

That your mother bought it for an 18th present isn't an excuse either - that just marks the rest of your family out as vain social climbers, with a degree in sad-act-one-up-man-ship in my books.

B111 YVW does not = BillY VW, it equals B111 YVW

You might notice in Germany (for those of you who actually have a passport and use it) all German cars have identical format number plates, just like in the Netherlands and France and probably every other European nation.  That's because the government over there controls the production of the plates.  It's about time the UK Government did the same thing in my opinion - it'd stop all this whining about getting pulled for massaging the spacing of plates, that's one thing for sure.  It might make a few people realise what a liberal society we live in, too.