Personalised number plates can make your car look extra special, and can help you personalise your vehicle in a unique way.
However, lots of motorists try to pull the wool over the DVLA’s eyes with their private number plates, breaking the law in the process.
In today’s article, we’ll explore some of the ways you can get into trouble with your private number plates, from colourful characters to tinted backplates, illegal spacing, and more. Hopefully, by telling you the fines and problems of breaking the rules with your number plate, you’ll be less likely to fall short and run into issues.
Let’s start with the most up to date number plate standard, which was introduced in 2021.
The BSAU145e standard of number plates.
What better way to tell you the standard than to you show the standard, with an image courtesy of our parent company, Jepson & Co Ltd.
For the readers in the audience, let’s have a quick run through of the changes.
Firstly, number plate borders have a maximum thickness of 5mm, coming down from 6mm before the change was introduced. The background has to be a solid, singular colour that isn’t reflective, and it must sit at least 10mm away from the number characters.
When it comes to artwork, AKA the blue section at the bottom of the first image, there’s a size limit of between 3mm and 8mm height. This, like the border, has to be a single, solid, non-reflective colour.
The characters on the private registration have to be solid black, which means no two-tone colourings, tints, or other colours. The size of the plates themselves remain the same for rectangular number plates, which is 520mmx11mm, with lipped registrations also staying the same size of 520mmx125mm.
Finally, the BS mark must be shown in the manufacturer’s mark, which is at the bottom of the registration in tiny font.
For those with square number plates, so 4x4 owners and motorcycle owners, the BSAU145e standard can be seen below.
If you fail to meet these standards, you could be met with an on the spot fine of £100, which could rise to £1,000 fine. You’re also at risk of having your number plates seized, and your car could fail its MOT.
Be aware, however, that this only applies to number plates manufactured after 1 September 2021. If yours were made before then, you’re not breaking the law.
General DVLA rules for number plates.
As well as the BSAU145e standard, the DVLA have some general rules when it comes to number plates.
As per the DVLA website, UK number plates must:
- be made from a reflective material
- display black characters on a white background (front plate)
- display black characters on a yellow background (rear plate)
- not have a background pattern
- be marked to show who supplied the number plate
- be marked with a British Standard number - this is ‘BS AU 145e’ for plates fitted after 1 September 2021, as discussed above.
- Characters can’t be removable or reflective, and if your number plates were fitted after 1 September 2021, they must also be a single shade of black.
According to the DVLA, your number plates can also:
- have 3D (raised) characters
- display certain flags, symbols and identifiers
- display a green flash if you have a zero-emission vehicle.
For that last one, we have green flash number plates available for zero-emission vehicles. Give our sales team a call on 01642 363738 to find out more.
Just like with the BSAU145e standard, failing to meet the DVLA’s rules for UK number plates will land you in trouble, with a £100 on the spot fine potentially being issued by police, which could raise to £1,000.
You might also find your number plates seized and your vehicle can fail its MOT.
Illegal spacing.
Number plates come in five different formats: suffix, prefix, dateless, new style (or millennium), and Northern Irish.
We’ve explained the number plate formats in detail here, but a quick rundown is as follows:
Suffix number plates start with three letters, a space, then a number of one, two, or three digits in length, followed by a single year identifying letter.
Prefix number plates start with the year identifying letter, followed by a number which again can be up to three digits in length, followed by a space, and three letters at the end.
Dateless registrations have no age identifier, and come in various formats. They can have between one and four digits followed by a space, and one, two, or three letters, and they can also come in reverse, with one to three letters followed by a space and one to four digits.
Northern Irish registrations can have between one and four numbers, followed by a space, and a block of letters that always contain the letter I or Z, which work as an original area identifier.
These letters are illegal on other forms of number plate in the UK, so if your name or initials feature them, buying a Northern Irish registration could be a smart move.
While these UK number plate formats are sold by reputable number plate manufacturers and number plate dealers, some motorists buy what are known as show plates, usually on the internet. These show plates have altered character spacing to help buyers spell words they want to spell with their personalised plate.
As you can expect, this is illegal, and can land you with an on the spot fine of £100, which could rise to £1,000, as well as a failed MOT and your number plates being seized. Same goes if you use a black screw to change how a character looks on your reg, which is illegal because it could confuse ANPR cameras and the police, should they need to identify your vehicle.
Buy a private number plate with National Numbers.
As you can see, we’re number plate nerds at National Numbers.
Our team have been in the number plate industry for over 40 years and as a result, their knowledge and customer service is unmatched. That’s why National Numbers is the very best place to secure your very own, fully road legal private registration for UK roads.
Browse our private registrations online today, or call our superb sales team on 01642 363738 for help finding the perfect personalised number plate.
