Illegal number plate spacing

[Dave-G]

One of my brothers has got a bit of a thing about dodgy plate altering - and knows its illegal and carries a potential £1000 fine.  Thing is though that fine only seems to occur if the offender is actually caught driving the vehicle BY THE POLICE - and quite often only results in a warning. 

I have to say some slight adjustments mildly irk me but some people really annoy me, especially by using darkened rear plates that I assume would appear black when flashed by a roadside camera. Having tried to find details of a web site where this can be reported we have drawn a massive blank. I'm mindful of serious funding cut backs that have all but removed officers from the road so it appears nothing will be done about persons driving vehicles that may at some time be involved in a hit and run with no chance of being held responsible.

Given the police put so much effort into speeding offences that result in a £100 fine, I'm surprised they dont seem interested in reacting to information received about offending plates to help boost fines of £1000. I'd have thought it would be quite easy to provide a website where photos or dash videos could be uploaded as proof of said vehicle being used on the road.

I be interested to hear thought from officers and legal eagles on this subject.

 

[Wb123]

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/technology-44682669

 

 

[Wb123]

Wether it is cost effective for the police to enforce some rules is another potentially worthwhile discussion. I assume £1000 is the limit fine generally given for repeat offenders. A largely automated and supposedly profit making speeding fines system I can see the logic in, this looks like an area that would be much more resource intensive but without scope for hugely greater income generation. Given the low social impact of such offending it therefore seems unlikely to be of great interest to the police to enforce. 

DOI: not hugely irritated by odd number plate spacing and have heard that they tend to be very well tolerated by cameras despite what some sales pitches may say. 

[rovercoupe]

What about vag cars with pressed steel plates? Seen lots of those recently, are they legal?

[Jason_ox]

16 minutes ago, rovercoupe said:

What about vag cars with pressed steel plates? Seen lots of those recently, are they legal?

Yes, if it’s correct spacing, size, font and on the correct reflective background there’s no issues. It’s when they are trying to emulate German plates with the badges and fonts etc, that’s frowned upon. I’ve ran pressed ali plates on my German cars for over a decade no problems.

[Guest]

I have pressed Ali plates on my car .they conform to legal standards .we used to have alliminium plates before they started to use plastic 

Plastic are cheaper 

Edited September 22, 2018 by Guest

[walshie]

I'm not sure any of these "custom" plates actually stop cameras reading the number. It might be harder for someone who witnesses and incident to read it correctly though.

Anyone who has their plate made with dodgy spacing is obviously crying out for attention, but when they get it from plod, they don't like it. Go figure. 

[Surfer]

Would rather the POLICE concentrate on more concerning things IE recent murders ,muggings,burglaries and assault 

numberplate spacing is a bit trivial don’t you think

[Dave-G]

52 minutes ago, Surfer said:

Would rather the POLICE concentrate on more concerning things IE recent murders ,muggings,burglaries and assault 

numberplate spacing is a bit trivial don’t you think

I'm up for people getting away with minor indiscretions that don't harm anyone or their property. 

Apparently - a copper told my brother that some ANPR software is made to read blocks of two three or four digits so doesnt read a single one. Dunno if thats fact or not but if if there is some scum out there deliberately defeating camera recognition to get away with something he may sooner or later affect the lives of some of us - possibly you or yours.

In addition roadside cameras can capture proof a car was at a specific location at a given time and date can lead to conviction of a person being in the vicinity of a murder, mugging, burglary or assault, the latter three taking up too many resources to respond to apparently. It could also prove the vehicle was nowhere near an incident at a given time too.

Edited September 22, 2018 by Dave-G

[Surfer]

Having had a family member hospitalised for two weeks through an assault,a description of the the car that said attacker was driven away in was recognised by an ANPR camera in the area at the time. 

It had no relavance to the case as it couldn’t prove the attacker was in the car with the owner

Badly spaced numbers letters for committing crime yeah that’s a brain wave ,false plates and a ringer plate would be much better for them

[oowee]

12 hours ago, Jason_ox said:

Yes, if it’s correct spacing, size, font and on the correct reflective background there’s no issues. It’s when they are trying to emulate German plates with the badges and fonts etc, that’s frowned upon. I’ve ran pressed ali plates on my German cars for over a decade no problems.

I had a set made up in Rome for my Alfa complete with the Italian 'I' 🙂

[Walker570]

I go back to the good old days...remember them ????  The new E type Jag came out and the stick on plate arrived which of course did not comply with the law. The difference then was we had at least five patrols cars and m/bikes out  just in our Division.  Was not long before a new Jag owner got a ticket and it hit the fan. 

Every time I go out I see a serious dangerous situation much more important than one of these 'Poser Plates' but they are far to busy in Leicestershire anyway teaching officers how not to cause each other hurt by their turn of phrase to be out looking for offenders.

Warwickshire Police are also supposed to be cash strapped but could afford to have two fully matked police vans and three personel to put a small speed awareness sign on a lamp post on the A5 at Dordon the other day.

[norfolk dumpling]

I have one of these 'poser' plates - a present for wife 25yrs ago so unlikely to ever sell it - but I agree there are so many many more important issues for the authorities to concentrate on than presentation styles. Ours was 'altered' for about 10 years perfectly legally and it did comply fully but we could not get it passed the MOT inspection so it would never get attention now.

[ph5172]

One of the lads in the office has a plate spaced to spell his name. All legal font and such

always moans when he gets tugged. 

Only once has he ever had to get a form stamped and completed at an mot centre to say the plate had been changed. Straight home and plate swapped

i was under the impression that dvla could revoke a plate if it’s constantly altered

Edited September 23, 2018 by ph5172

[Vince Green]

The number of young lads driving round now with no number plate on the front but instead have it laid flat on the dashboard. You used to see it occasionally but now its all the time. How do they get away with it? 

[Dave-G]

1 hour ago, Vince Green said:

The number of young lads driving round now with no number plate on the front but instead have it laid flat on the dashboard. You used to see it occasionally but now its all the time. How do they get away with it? 

No traffic coppers on the roads.

 

On 22/09/2018 at 11:35, Surfer said:

Having had a family member hospitalised for two weeks through an assault,a description of the the car that said attacker was driven away in was recognised by an ANPR camera in the area at the time. 

It had no relavance to the case as it couldn’t prove the attacker was in the car with the owner

Badly spaced numbers letters for committing crime yeah that’s a brain wave ,false plates and a ringer plate would be much better for them

Its the plates that ANPR can't read that are the issue, and is likely to end up much worse for an offender to to fit false plates if caught, but perhaps just a warning for bad spacing.