MadaboutKitcars

Does anyone have an opinion of where to put the front number plate. Wish i didnt have to have one at all

Legally the number plate must be mounted at the front of the vehicle vertically, ie just as the mx5. If you have a eunos base you could use the small font.

The best thing would be to register it in Italy and use their tiny front plate!

My understanding of the rules when researching for my Sammio build "next door" was...

... a registration plate must be fixed on the front of the vehicle vertically or, where that is not reasonably practicable, in a position as close to the vertical as is reasonably practicable...

So it might be worth double checking as this would give you a few more options.

Cheers, Paul.

Sticky letters?

it must have a reflective background - so sticky letters no good.

you can get a reflective vinyl numberplate from fleabay - about £10

Sorry, urban myth alert. There's no provision in uk law to use a small font just because you've bought an import and a standard sized number plate won't fit in the recess or on the plinth.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/pdfs/uksi_20010561_en.pdf

It should fail the MOT with the incorrect font and/or size and technically, as far as the Police are concerned, it's a £60 fine even if it's parked on your drive.

Having said that, you'd be unlucky if you got a bobby super-keen enough to write a ticket if it's just slightly smaller than standard. Unlucky but not alone...

My Eunos has the small font, just passed the mot.

That's why I put that it should fail the MOT.

Most garages seem to take the view that, as it's not a safety issue, there'll be no comeback on them if the driver/keeper gets prosecuted, so they just wave non conforming plates through.

TBH, we've got thousands of American forces personnel round these parts who drive UK registered American imports on non standard plates and I'm not aware of any local coppers who go round giving them tickets for it, even the young and keen ones.

Just don't rely on the 'everyone else does it' defence if you do get stopped as that isn't yet enshrined in UK law.

Fair point, but conversely I have to put a number plate on my quad bike to pass the mot. I then take it off for another 12 months.

'Even if its parked on your drive'?

£60 fine onle if you are driving it on a public road.
I have small font on my number plate and Ive moved a letter over so the spacing is incorrect on my private plate on the merc. Been pulled over a few times and never have had a fine, I play the game with the police and always get a ticket to take to an MOT station to get stamped once Ive changed the number plate to the correct 1. Its the same ticket you get if you have a break light out etc. you get 48 hours to get it done and sent off.
On my mx250 I wont b having a front numberplate and just putting it on the dash displayed in the front windscreen and playing the 'its just fell off, officer' card!

It is a bit of a game but could be an expensive one as the dvla can recall a plate regardless of value of rules are flouted re spaces and fonts.

Yes but thats if you have had 2 fines for displaying the plate incorrectly. The Dvla dont get informed if u just get a ticket to take to an mot centre and as far as im concerned the dvla can have my plate if i cant display it how i want as displaying it correctly doesnt mean a thing!

Just got in from work and I double checked the legislation just to be sure. Time for me to eat some humble pie - the reg's do allow for imported vehicles to use the motorcycle font size if it's not possible to fit a standard sized plate due to the construction of the vehicle. That's the proper sized motorcycle plates, not the stupid rizzla sized ones most bikers think will look cool and stop them getting speed camera fines.

I also double checked the offence of keeping a motor vehicle with a non-conforming number plate, which, just like driving a motor vehicle with a non-conforming number plate was a £60, non-endorsable ticket the last time I looked (hence the offence being committed even if it's on your drive).

It appears to have dropped off the list of offences in the new 'PENTIP' ticket books issued from February this year http://www.northgate-ispublicservices.com/View/?Pentip so either the Govt have given up on that one or it could be an oversight.

Anyway, as I've said all along, you'd be unlucky to get a bobby keen enough to write the ticket, especially if the plate looks as if it belongs on an exoticar like the Tribute.

Oh, and for those who think that they can develop a sort of perpetual motion system by driving on their altered number plates, then swapping back to the standard ones to get the VDRS ticket stamped before changing back to the modified plates ad infinitum, current guidance is now to issue the £60 fine, take photographs of the plates and submit the details to DVLA every time.

What your saying there is that if i have a car on my drive (not a public road) with a number plate that is agains the law, the police can nock on my door and give me a £60 fine? Bollocks

Like I say, I checked my ticket books last night at work and the 'Pentip' book doesn't have a code for the offence of 'keep a motor vehicle, number plate not conforming to regulations' but the now obsolete £60 non-endorsable book that I hadn't got around to shredding did.

That means right now I couldn't knock on someone's door and fine them for having non standard number plates on a car on their drive as there's no code for me to write on the ticket, but I could've done three months ago. That omission could be an oversight though as we keep getting updated offence code lists every couple of weeks (they're published on a separate list now, not printed on the cover of the book like they were).

I wouldn't be so petty as to actually write a ticket for a car parked on someone's drive myself though anyway, being a petrol-head, but I have written many, many tickets where plates were altered so much the original number couldn't be read.

Owners of Mitsubishi Lancer 1600's with badly fitting body kits seem particularly keen to change any combination of letters into 'EVO' for some obscure reason.

Oh, and when someone with the plate mostly hidden in their front windscreen says "it's just fallen off officer." My reply is "well, you should've just refitted it then" and write them a £60 ticket.

After all, I wouldn't want any of the tax payer's money wasted trying to trace the driver of a vehicle that's sped past a head-on safety camera with the front number plate partially obscured now, would I...

Anyway, on a back to topic note, full size adhesive number plates are available to stick on the bonnet the way E-type Jags have them. I've got a black and white one for the front of my Spyder, and pressed black aluminium with white plastic letters for the back.



If I were to build an MX250 (which I might once I've finished my Sammio) I'd probably put a period, sixties registration on the donor and run with black and white plates. It would take an extremely knowledgeable officer to spot the 'mistake' and there aren't that many of those about

Its just fallen off officer will do gor me, id take the £60 fines all day long to keep the motor looking good!

Fixed penalty fine using the road traffic act? When a car is on my drive ie not on a public road? You appear to be a police man yet not a good 1 at that.

The Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 refers.

I dont think we need insults on the forum. Thanks for all the advice from everyone. I think we should leave it there. Cheers.

number plate advice

Hi Mr Towed, as always your advice is appreciated by most.
To others - MrTowed has contributed to a number of legislative discussions onthese forums over a period of time. From my personal experience of the Sammio and Tribute forums i think many have found the insights to be helpful, especialy on some of the grey areas and he is not of course obliged to take the time but does so as a fellow car enthusiast .
You are of course free to do your own research, ignore advice, do your own thing etc!

Phew! An outbreak of reasonableness. I thought it was going to be handbags at dawn.

MrTowed does help with some of the legal details and by quoting them almost word for word they sound different to the reality of how they are normally enforced. Doesn't change the way they are worded in law though.

I have on on/off relationship with the law so it is nice to have some idea about which bits i am actually breaking. Normally I have to check with a mate who is plod on the Isle of Man but traffic laws seem a bit different over there sometimes.

Individual officers usually have a great deal of discretion in how they enforce the law. All forces have their own policies in respect of how some offences are dealt with, however, and some run a 'zero tolerance' approach to vehicle matters.

This means that in some counties every blown bulb gets a ticket, every driver stopping for five seconds on a box junction gets a ticket, every under inflated tyre gets three points (bet you didn't know about that one!) so what gets ignored in Ambridge might get you fined in Weatherfield.

It was pioneered by Rudy Giuliani in New York and results in an overall reduction in all crime. Funnily enough, people with criminal tendancies and a lack of morals tend to drive unroadworthy vehicles to commit crime. Who'd have thought it .

So, when a question comes up regarding vehicle law, I'll usually chip in with what I know (and can reference from sources in the public domain) about the exact wording and meaning of the legislation.

What I can't say is how any of the other one hundred and thirty two thousand two hundred and thirty four bobbies in Great Britain* might deal with the matter if you get stopped while driving your home built steam carriage (first used on or before March 1st 1936) on a bridleway without being accompanied by an attendant carrying a wheel chock and a sack of feed for a horse.

By adding to these discussions as I do I hope to allow other car builders to make a more informed choice about parts of their builds, just as I've tapped the knowledge of engine, suspension and bodywork specialists while building my own car.

And always remember, there is no situation so desperately bad that the arrival of a Police Officer can't make it infinitely worse.

* http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/31/number-police-officers-drops-lowest