pgudge

After 3 and a half years of owning and showing my personalised plate bought for me by my wife, I was pulled and given a £30 fine and ordered to have legal plates put on within 28 days.

Whilst I do admit the plate has the space in the wrong place, after the first letter rather than letter and numbers, the font is easily readable and not "un reconisable" as they claimed.

It was 2.30 in the morning, and pretty quiet on my way home, and I feel like they just wanted to do something, and I was the unlucky one.

I have had numerous police cars behind and infront of me in the past 3 and half years, and even been pulled for other reasons like, stop checks and so on, and no one has ever said anything.

They told me that if I am caught displaying this plate again they will report me to the DVLA which would probanly involve a higher fine and also the possibilty of taking my plate off me.

What do I do?

Pay the fine, chance the plate to the standard font and spacing and get on with life.

Or is there a loop hole there?

The only thing that is really p1ss1ng me off is that I drive past SO MANY cars in my area with plates that I cannot read without a second/thrid look. And I have been told to change it. And also that fact that my wife bought the plates to wrap up for me to open so its like "from the missus".

And to top it off the cop car had a light out!!!

thanks for any advise.

StudentScooby

they are clamping down big stylee

MrRA

I have a personalised plate and took the time to read one of those information leaflets that the DVLA put in with the retention cert. It says in there that any abuse of your personalised plate (such as incorrect spacing etc) can lead to having the plate taken from you, so I wouldn't push it, just in case you do get a police officer out with a point to make.

AlanS

I also have a personal plate and I have to agree that some people manipulate them beyond belief! But we all know the risks, so you take your chance. Can't blame the old bill for doing their job tho

funkyspider

I suspect the reason is the growing number of automatic number plate recognition cameras that they are using. The police look for any reason to stop you for a stop and check, esp highly stealable cars in the early hours. You just gave them an easy reason.

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

Change it. It's not the end of the world now is it.

You say that others are getting away with it, but for how long. Maybe they'll be saying the same as you next week!

Look on the bright side; at least you didn't get points.

[Davey]

Ditto! Theres a country wide opperation in force..

I'd advice everyone whos got a private plate to make sure they use legal plates because if you repeat the offence they can actually take your plate away and give you back some random regular plate as you dont actually own your registration the DVLA do.

PeteBrant

Yup.


I mean as everyone knows, it's the biggest danger facing the British public today.

Nothing at all to do with it being easy pickings to meet police targets.

every1sgottablue1

The Police get on my ****!

funkyspider

Surviving Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) - a guide for law-abiding drivers

"Number-plates obscured by dirt or with incorrect letter and number spacing, that cant be read by ANPR camera, may be flagged up as suspect registrations and police sent in pursuit."

"Whereas, in the past, police officers may have unofficially turned a blind eye to number-plates covered in mud or customised registrations unless they needed to stop a car, ANPR may mean that the days of the fancy or dirty plate are numbered," says Paul Watters, head of roads and transport policy for the AA Motoring Trust."

So now you know

suffolkdar

Yet it seems motorcycles still get away with very small plates/fonts again it's rules for some..........

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

What rubbish no they don't. There have been several cases of police turning up at bike meets to hand out tickets for:

Dark visors
Race cans
Small plates

People with these things tend not to ride that often though. On a everyday bike it would be seen as taking the p*** and you'd definately be looking at a tug.

Cars rarely get done for loud cans, even Scoobies that can be ear bleedingly loud but bike do because it is easy to check. That's the only unfair thing going on.

5t.

cster

Basically if you mess with your plates you are messing with the "system".
Big brother increasingly uses cameras to police cheaply and more importantly to collect revenue from vehicle tax etc.
Hence the need for ANPR vans etc which would not be required without this form of Policing/revenue stream.
Obviously messing with the system is a very bad thing and could lead to the collapse of our democracy.
Things like rape, robbery and murder are merely crimes against individuals and of course do not threaten the state, hence the relative lack of importance of these types of crime.
I hope this explains things to you thicksters out there!

[Davey]

Brilliant couldnt have put it better myself!

monkeyboy840

pay the ticket change the plate.


if not you'll be well pissed when dvla takes the plate off you if you get caught again

MaDaSS

Just remember this, you do NOT own that number plate. You have only paid for the right to display it! And that is fact.
If you abuse it, DVLA can and will revoke your rights.
And besides, there are rigid laws about the plates so how can you actually post about, "what should i do?" LOL. FFS pay up and change it to what it should read.

mcw

This will no doubt have all of the childish members (you know who you are) slagging off the Police but here goes anyway.

There are as has already been mentioned stringent laws as to the font type, size and spacing with regards to number plates. There are also laws relating to the reflective material to which the figures are printed / stuck. In fact sadly enough I can tell you that there must be 33mm spacing between letter / number groups.

It is true that the reasoning behind the 'clampdown' is due to the increasing emergence of anpr cameras. However they are not all positioned in roadside vans. Most city centre cctv cameras are anpr enabled as are many cameras within large shopping complexes. Meadowhall and the Trafford centre to name just two.

I drive both marked and unmarked Police cars that have onboard anpr systems that check do live checks on the national database, the dvla database, intel reports etc. etc. Yes these do lead to cars being stopped for relatively minor traffic offences, but mainly they are used for stolen vehicles and in particular vehicles stolen by way of burglary. The insurance database is now almost 100% so we do also seize a large number of uninsured cars due to the cameras.

If your car is stolen from outside your house and you alert the Police, or indeed if Tracker UK alert the Police then the systems immediately updates. This however depends on our cars cameras, which we have front and rear, being able to read your plates. Incorrect font types / sizes and mis-spaced figures often cause misreads.

To cut a long reply short, help us do our job and keep your plates as readable as possible. Mind, if anyone knows if F1LTH or P1GGY is available let me know.

Oh, and yes the dvla can and do withdraw plates from people, but usually after 3 reports.

PeteBrant

Changing fonts is one thing. But to say that spacings cause read errors is quite something else.

According to your post, there must be 33mm spacing between letter and number groups.

What if you have private plate that does not adhere to number/letter convention? Also, given the difference groupings between the old letter at the edn, letter at the front and todays system, any sort of arbitary spacings is redundant.

Are you saying that the ANPR cannot read, say S<space> 1ACK, but it can read S1<space> ACK?
If so, then the system is clearly not fit for purpose. As many private plates will not follow any such spacing guidelines on account of not being in that particular format. "JS1" for example

Like I say, I can completely understand clamping down on fonts that do not conform by and large to a set system, and perhaps strategically placed fixing screws etc can be a problem - but simply on spacing, which is what the original poster was pulled up on, it really is semantics.

Adam M

go to the standard font, there is no maximum spacing, only a minimum spacing, so if you want to display your space between the letter and then numbers, do it, but make sure you also have the minimum gap between numbers and last 3 letters.

Non standard fonts are the most chav thing you can possibly do to a car anyway.

mcw

Spacing isn't the main issue but it can cause the software problems. The example you use of JS1 should in theory be JS (33mm) 1. Pedantic as it may seem.

Please don't shoot the messenger. I only generally stop people with mis-spacing if its really blatant. You've gotta agree some people do take the P1 SS!

funkyspider

By the same rationale people who have dirty plates should also be stopped and given a £30 fine for having plates which are unreadable ?


The author of the original post did not specify what their plate was, or how it was spaced or indeed if the offence was for just spacing, spacing and type face, and/or screw positioning.

It could have been spaced so that 2 letters/digits were very close together to give the impression of a letter etc. If it is positioned to look like a letter to the eye then it will obviously look like a letter to ANPR causing a misread which obviously then has to be reviewed possibly missing other more important data on the system.

mcw

Unreadable number plate £30 non endorsable ticket. This covers the dirty ones.

Adam M

He does mention the spacing!

Rill

Spot on....

To suggest ANPR software cannot cope with "altered" spacing is quite simply wrong and issuing a ticket on that basis is ludicrous. Any computer programmer/software developer worth their salt would tell you exactly the same thing.

smartuki

a cop told me that its better not to have one , as its only £20 quid lol

lestippp

I'm with mcw on this. Just follow the rules, it's that simple.

We all get in a tizz over speed cameras (myself included) and then the police introduce licence plate checks to catch thieves and the uninsured, thank god, it's about time!

I have nothing to hide, my car is well maintained, taxed and insured as I'm sure you all are, since we take pride in our vehicles.
I want the fuzz to be able to identify my car via this system if it has been nicked (although the tracker should do this but you never can tell)..... don't you?!

Less speed cameras and more plate recognition if you ask me, they catch more serious offenders than any speed camera ever will and would have more backing surely from joe public. I hate uninsured drivers and generally they don't have road tax and drive dangerous cars!

Cheers.

Wmscooby

iTrader: (24)

It would seem now that plod have a problem reading plates with spaces in FFS it still has the same letters and numbers what does it matter

Although at the same time i dont condone ppl with extra screws in their plates to make it look like something else

martyrobertsdj

iTrader: (1)

I had a S600 B** plate on my car for three years, spaced illegally to look a bit like "SCOOB **"...got followed by the police on a number of occasions, but never once got pulled. I guess I was just lucky.

IMHO some people really take the p*ss when it comes to spacings and fonts, but many of the Imprezas I've seen with "SCOOB" type plates (although illegally spaced) are easy peasy to read and there can be no mistaking what the number actually is.

The whole crux of the problem is the ANPR. Ok...it is a good thing if some ****** is driving about uninsured, etc, but I rather suspect that there's more concern that the generally law-abiding car owner may actually get away with something like going too fast in an average speed enforcement section.

As for bikers and small plates.......take the ****, you get pulled...simple as that. Get pulled for a small plate and they will likely do you for your dark visor and race can too. I know a couple of bike cops in the Northumbria force and they told me a small plate is a guaranteed stop! They will let you off with a dark visor and/or a race can unless you are really taking the p*ss.
I had a plate that was 6x8 instead of 7x9 and the figures were slightly smaller than the legal requirement. It looked fine and was easily read from the "required" distance. I had no problems with el piggileros.

911

#26 Lestippp has the right thinking.

If the car is legal why worry except for the ego/humour that is a private plate.

With so many un-insured/no tax car loafing about on the roads run by scum then I applauld the police to track them down and do what they do.

Do they manage to actually do this as such scum are un tracable as I bet their plates are false.

Such an easy trick to play. When did you last get followed by a police car?
I guess it is well worth the risk.

I saw one today, parked in a side road to a major road and he was asleep at 6.00am..

Graham

Abdabz

I'm not bothered if it's "easy pickings" it's still illegal and should be dealt with... I'm just saddened that the fine is so meagre as each and every one of these genital heads who mess about with their plates are deliberately breaking the law...
It's a shame a repeat offence only results in the plate being taken away and not the car...

I applaud the police for using non-emergency time targetting law breakers... In america they just eat dohnuts...