I have a stick on front plate, just like on the E Type and Spitty etc (See “This is Bertie” in Readers Rides). Is this illegal as one member suggests? I would hate to be stopped by the police and given points. Equally I do prefer the stick on plate, it makes for better aerodynamics and gives a “retro” look.
Hi Gary, I don’t normally do this, but please type number plates into the search facility. There are a load of posts, make up your own mind from the advice given. The facts are there, ie quotes from the DVLA licemnce website and other stuff. I know that a stick on plate is illegal, some stick to the apocryphal"my mate told me" stories. Read the threads and let us know what you decide.
ps I had a stick on for 5 years in the UK, never a pull and always passed the mot[;)]
Just to clarify the “points” situation if you were stopped by the police. At most it would be a non endorsable fixed penalty ticket (£30 no points) but generally you would be issued with a vehicle defect notice requiring you to get it fixed within 14 days and then attend an MOT station to get the notice stamped to confirm it has been rectified.
Thanks for the advice chaps.
Mine, front and rear are stuck on with good quality double sided tape. They are more difficult to remove than removing just two screws. Removing the stick on ones destroys the number plate as I have found to my cost. So security wise the stick on ones are better IMO.
I’d change “at most it would be…” to “it would probably be…”
You could get some very serious charges such as perverting the course of justice, if they felt that they could argue you were trying to evade ANPR, and speed cameras etc.
It’s rare, but it has happened.
The DVLA can also Q-Plate your vehicle, thus seriously reducing its value, and causing a whole host of insurance issues.
Is it worth the risk - in my mind, no, but as Geoff says, it is your call - there are plenty of threads out there with “I’ve had mine since the dawn of time, and it has been fine…”, but it only takes one active traffic cop to see it…
http://www.roadsidelawyer.co.uk/questions/has-the-dvla-ever-actually-revoked-a-number-plate-for-illegal-spacing-fonts-or-coloured-rivets/
http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/numberplateinfo.aspx (at the bottom)
I’ll stick by my original posting. To my knowledge no-one has ever been charged with Attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice for incorrectly displaying a number plate. We are not talking about altering a plate here just mis displaying it.
Regarding the Q plate issue, you will only ever be issued with a Q plate if the age of your car cannot be proved.
The links you have provided relate to personal plates which can be revoked by DVLA if the owner is caught displaying an incorrectly displayed personal plate on more than one occasion. The vehicle will be reverted to its originally issued VRM in this case.
A traffic cop[:)]
Wether legal or not, I think its down to your luck on the day and the cop in question.
Ive had my stick on on the front for about 6 months now, and have never had any problems with it, and there are plenty of them about in Manchester to have a go if they want to [;)]
I woul feel really unlucky to get pulled because of it when you see some of the “altered” plates that are on a lot of cars around here! At least mine is nice and legible!
Leave the stick on on, they look so much nicer [Y]
I have a stick on front plate from craigsplates, it looks like a ‘proper’ plate anyway, correct size and font.
A colleague of mine had an old Elan that had a stick on plate (as intended). Can’t see why the law allows him and not me, but that is just the way things are…
The plate in question is a vinyl sticker, not a standard acrylic number plate (as it seems you are meaning)
To show the difference, here is my old acrylic standard plate, on with sticky pads and screws
And here is my vinyl sticky plate:
As you can see, it is a sticker, made of reflective vinyl and has the correct font, spacing and even the BS mark.
Just to clarify the position with stick on number plates the only reason that they are illegal is because currently no stick on number plates meets BS AU 145D this is the standard for number plates which mainly is concerned with the physical characteristics of the plate and includes visibilty, strength & reflectivity, in all other respects a stick on plate can meet the requirements ie. size, font, spacing etc.
It is basically down to nit picking but they are the rules.
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Del.
One further observation on the stick on plates issue. A paragraph in
Statutory Instrument 2001 No. 561
The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 [this is the Law]
says
6. - (1) This regulation applies to vehicles, other than works trucks, road rollers and agricultural machines, first registered on or after the relevant date.
(2) Except as provided in paragraph (5), a registration plate must be fixed on the front of the vehicle in the manner required by paragraph (3).
(3) This paragraph requires the plate to be fixed -
- (a) vertically or, where that is not reasonably practicable, in a position as close to the vertical as is reasonably practicable,
- It is demonstrably possible to position a number plate vertically on an MX5. Therefore a stick on plate is illegal[IMG]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j183/gwa_2006/ozzsmile-1.gif[/IMG]
Sorry Guys n Gals
I seem to have opened an already half eaten can of worms here. I do apologise but thanks for all the advice. I think that I will fit one of those revolving plates, as seen in a James Bond Movie. Are Those legal? LOL. [:D]
someone also told me that stick on, non vertical plates are difficult to pick up on cameras. dont know if thats true, probably not, but we live in hope.[6]
Without a vertical face to bounce the laser beam off it is nearly impossible to get a reading from a handheld speed gun [;)]
sounds good to me.
[Y]
If I see any form of speed detection device the front end of my car is as near as vertical as you can get when Ive just hit the brakes [;)] not that any form of law breaking speed is connected its just that they catch me by surprise and startle me - it`s a natural reaction [:^)][:D]
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Del.
I don’t see a problem there.
No, seriously - the plate is retroreflective, so the laser will bounce back the way it came, even if the plate is at an angle. Sure, if the angle’s very oblique the reflection will be reduced, but the plate needn’t be vertical to get a good reflection and - as the regulation says - the is plate only required to be as close to vertical as reasonably practicable.
Guys, thinking a laser speed gun needs a nice big vertical surface is rubbish. LTI 20/20, a favourite gun with the plod, need a very,very small area and reads quicker than a blink!
I got done on my bike, and the dreaded gun worked fine then!
I have a snooper detector in the car, which is great for gatso’s (K band radar), but by the time it would squeel for laser it would be too late!
Another thing to consider is the laser ‘garage door openers’ that you can put on your car that fire back at the gun and give an ‘error’ reading to the gun. I would worry that they would stop you anyway to find out why they couldn’t check your speed!