Number Plates and the Law.
DVLA guidelines on how they should be displayed.
All registration marks including marks purchased through DVLA's sales scheme must be displayed in accordance with The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 (obtainable from Her Majesty's Stationery Office).
Rules for the display of number plates are set out in law, briefly these are: -
- A number plate must be displayed at the front and rear of motor vehicles (with some exceptions).
- Number Plates must be easy to read and meet the British Standard.
- Lettering should be black on a white plate at the front and a yellow at the rear.
- The background surface should be reflex-reflecting but the characters must not.
- There are separate requirements for traditional number plates displayed on vehicles constructed before 1 January 1973.
- Lettering and spacing must be of a set size. They must conform to one of the groups shown at:- Number plates fitted after 1 September 2001 or Number plates fitted before 1 September 2001. Number Plate Law
The law states that,
- You must not alter, rearrange or misrepresent the letters or numbers
- Characters must not be moved from one group to the other (e.g. A242 ABC must not be displayed as A242A BC).
Offences may result in any or all of the following:
- A fine of up to £1,000
- The registration mark may be WITHDRAWN
- The vehicle may FAIL the MOT test
Full details of the requirements are included in The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001
NUMBER PLATES FITTED AFTER 1 SEPTEMBER 2001
Number plates fitted after 1 September 2001 must display characters that meet the dimensions shown below.
Characters
- Width (except the figure 1 or letter l) 50mm
- Space between characters 11mm
- Space between groups 33mm
- Top, bottom and side margins (minimum) 11mm
- Space between vertical lines 19mm
The character width has been slightly reduced from 57mm to 50mm to accommodate the Euro-symbol on the number plate.
**Found this on the internet. So in theory if you leave 11mm at top, bottom n both sides ou can't get pulled. **