DVLA warn drivers to check number plates before next week or risk £1K fine
Motorists need to ensure their registration number is road legal before the roll out of new ones next month
Drivers across the UK are being warned to check their number plates before next week to ensure they are compliant with stringent rules. On September 1 the new '75' plates will hit the roads and the Driver and Vehicles Standard Agency are urging vehicle owners to make sure their plates are road legal.
If you are a driver in Scotland, England, or Wales and your licence plate doesn't meet stringent standards you face a £1,000 fine and it could even see your car fail its MOT. With a new batch of '75' plates coming to our roads from next Monday (September 1), it's a reminder to motorists to make some checks now.
Aside from a possible hefty fine and MOT failure, those with non-conforming plates can also find their insurance is invalidated and police can even seize the vehicle.
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While it may be tempting to personalise your registration plate, it can lead to trouble. The UK's number plate laws are strict.
The DVLA warns: “Number plates (also known as licence plates) must show your registration number correctly. You cannot rearrange letters or numbers, or alter them so that they’re hard to read.
"You could be fined up to £1,000 and your vehicle will fail its MOT test if you drive with incorrectly displayed number plates."
Is your number plate legal?
The number plates on your vehicle must:
- be made from a reflective material
- display black characters on a white background (front plate)
- display black characters on a yellow background (rear plate)
- not have a background pattern
- be marked to show who supplied the number plate
- be marked with a British Standard number - this is ‘BS AU 145e’ for plates fitted after 1 September 2021
The characters must not be removable or reflective. If your number plates were fitted after 1 September 2021, they must also be a single shade of black.
Your number plates can also:
- have 3D (raised) characters
- display certain flags, symbols and identifiers
- display a green flash, if you have a zero-emission vehicle
Nyo Logan, tyre content manager at Blackcircles said: "While it may be tempting to personalise your number plate, the UK's number plate laws are quite strict, and failure to comply can result in a fine of up to £1,000, your car failing its MOT, invalid insurance, and the police removing your vehicle from the road until the plates are updated."
Plates that are breaking the law include coloured ones that are not white at the front of the car and yellow at the rear.
British plates must be in Charles Wright font and there are specific measurements for number height, width, thickness and spacing too. Plates cannot be tinted.
Drivers are permitted to display a flag on their plate but only the Union Jack, Scottish Saltire, Cross of St.George or Welsh Dragon are allowed.