135 replies to this topic

[Sam Walters]

One year one of my minis was driven round with a black and silver plate.

The police only kept pulling the driver over to check he was insured with all the modifications.

I got pulled in it once, only because the guy was bored and likes minis and wanted advice on buying one. , one of two times, the other one was because the guy dident see my brake lights come on in 8 miles.

he always flashes me now.

really confuses my friends when they are in the car with me and a police car flashes me comeing the other way.

[aston19uk]

Being a police officer myself, Call me whatever ya like. But having a classic mini which mine is an 84 or A reg. I have a black and white number plate which goes well with white, So i intent to keep it on it.
some Minis are very old and have classic number plates anyway, most newer minis can get away with it, and if you drive sensiable, you wont get pulled for it.
I ve been stopped by a traffic officer ( ones with white caps) in it because i was speeding and he gave me a £30 quid fine for the number plates. Traffic officers like their easy ticks in there boxes in there performance indicator for each month. The reason i got the ticket was because i was pulled for another offence, Speeding. In most cases, you are likey to get a ticket when there is another apparent offence to that officer. And then the officer notices that you have naughty plates and fines you for that too. Try not to give the traffic officers a reason to pull you over. As being traffic officers that all they focus on - Traffic.

Fancy number plates wont get reconsied on the APNR system (bascially camreas that reads your number plates) and wont get read. Only problem is, if your car is stolen with them on. These ANPR systems wont read them, and alert the police to the whereabouts of your stolen car. However the traffic officer told me that if even wont read the black and silvers number plates which i find hard to believe.

I found some legalisation for you. It doesnt mention black and one tho

Use vehicle not fitted with manufacturer plate - construction and use regulations
On **(..SPECIFY DATE..) at **(..SPECIFY TOWNSHIP..) used on a road, namely **(..SPECIFY ROAD AND LOCATION..), a

(A)_[wheeled heavy motor car first used on or after 1st January 1968,]_
(B)_[motor carfirst used on or after 1st January 1968,]_
©_[bus first used on or after 1st April 1982,]_
(D)_[wheeled locomotive first used on or after 1st April 1973,]_
(E)_[motor tractor first used on or after 1st April 1973,]_
(F)_[converter dolly manufactured on or after 1st January 1979,]_

namely **(..SPECIFY VEHICLE MAKE AND INDEX NUMBER..), which was not equipped with a manufacturer's plate issued in respect of the vehicle securely attached to the vehicle in a conspicuous and readily accessible position

PENALTY A fine not exceeding level three on the standard scale.

Level four if goods vehicle or vehicle adapted to carry more than eight passengers.

Fixed penalty ticket - thirty pounds.

Time limit for prosecutions:
6 months

hope that makes some sense?

[pkpete]

Hi guys,

Just to clarify, it is in fact any car manufactured from 1971 on that is required to carry 'high visibility' number plates. The date is often confused with the new tax exemption legislation.

Curiously enough, at the time, my dad actually changed the horrible nasty old black and silver plates on his car for the new, funky yellow and black and white and black plates! It just goes to show that fashion is fickle!

Pete

[MiniMonty]

Being a police officer myself, Call me whatever ya like. But having a classic mini which mine is an 84 or A reg. I have a black and white number plate which goes well with white, So i intent to keep it on it.
some Minis are very old and have classic number plates anyway, most newer minis can get away with it, and if you drive sensiable, you wont get pulled for it.
I ve been stopped by a traffic officer ( ones with white caps) in it because i was speeding and he gave me a £30 quid fine for the number plates. Traffic officers like their easy ticks in there boxes in there performance indicator for each month. The reason i got the ticket was because i was pulled for another offence, Speeding. In most cases, you are likey to get a ticket when there is another apparent offence to that officer. And then the officer notices that you have naughty plates and fines you for that too. Try not to give the traffic officers a reason to pull you over. As being traffic officers that all they focus on - Traffic.

Fancy number plates wont get reconsied on the APNR system (bascially camreas that reads your number plates) and wont get read. Only problem is, if your car is stolen with them on. These ANPR systems wont read them, and alert the police to the whereabouts of your stolen car. However the traffic officer told me that if even wont read the black and silvers number plates which i find hard to believe.

I found some legalisation for you. It doesnt mention black and one tho

Use vehicle not fitted with manufacturer plate - construction and use regulations
On **(..SPECIFY DATE..) at **(..SPECIFY TOWNSHIP..) used on a road, namely **(..SPECIFY ROAD AND LOCATION..), a

(A)_[wheeled heavy motor car first used on or after 1st January 1968,]_
(B)_[motor carfirst used on or after 1st January 1968,]_
©_[bus first used on or after 1st April 1982,]_
(D)_[wheeled locomotive first used on or after 1st April 1973,]_
(E)_[motor tractor first used on or after 1st April 1973,]_
(F)_[converter dolly manufactured on or after 1st January 1979,]_

namely **(..SPECIFY VEHICLE MAKE AND INDEX NUMBER..), which was not equipped with a manufacturer's plate issued in respect of the vehicle securely attached to the vehicle in a conspicuous and readily accessible position

PENALTY A fine not exceeding level three on the standard scale.

Level four if goods vehicle or vehicle adapted to carry more than eight passengers.

Fixed penalty ticket - thirty pounds.

Time limit for prosecutions:
6 months

hope that makes some sense?

Don't mean to be rude but...

Good god...

If this is the kind of English we can expect from our police force then we are all in a lot of trouble.
No wonder things go wrong in court!

[Black.Ghost]

Don't mean to be rude but...

Good god...

If this is the kind of English we can expect from our police force then we are all in a lot of trouble.
No wonder things go wrong in court!

I'm glad I'm not the only one that was thinking that.

[ado15]

Hi guys,

Just to clarify, it is in fact any car manufactured from 1971 on that is required to carry 'high visibility' number plates. The date is often confused with the new tax exemption legislation.Pete

That used to be the case, but they've moved the date to coincide with the tax exempt date. It's now 1st Jan 1973.

http://www.dvla.gov....aflets/v796.pdf

[Minigirl]

illegal or not, if you have black and silver numberplates on (and your cars not pre 1973 or whatever it is) wont that make your insurance void if you had a crash?

im sure it could if the insurance company wanted to get out of paying you, as it's illegal and you shouldnt have it on your car

[sharps555]

illegal or not, if you have black and silver numberplates on (and your cars not pre 1973 or whatever it is) wont that make your insurance void if you had a crash?

im sure it could if the insurance company wanted to get out of paying you, as it's illegal and you shouldnt have it on your car

im sure they would if they new about it there not going to pay out if they dont have to!

[Sharpies9]

Reading through this thread, I am not too keen on putting white on black plates on my 91 mini. I was however considering sticking the front plate on the bonnet which I have seen a number of times and looks very smart. I saw mentioned further up that these are also illegal. Does anyone have any experience of being pulled over for having stick on plates? I am tired of loosing my plates to speed bumps and would prefer not to place them on my grille.

[minimad01]

my friend had stick on plates on his punto an he got pulled over for having blacked out front windows an the traffic cop didnt say anything to him an it also passed an mot with the plates on so from experience there okay but other people might say he got lucky i dont know

[mini_mad69]

my friend had stick on plates on his punto an he got pulled over for having blacked out front windows an the traffic cop didnt say anything to him an it also passed an mot with the plates on so from experience there okay but other people might say he got lucky i dont know

I've had mine on for about 4 months. It's half the size of a regular one and non-refelective.

I've been pulled over once in that time and havn't heard a word about the plate.

[adam_93rio]

ive been considering the black and silver plates for a while on my mini.
the only thing is i cant afford to lose my licence if someone was being funny,

what i was thinking i could do was to have the black and silver stuck on, then have my normal plates magnetic or on like grille buttons, so i can easily whip them on and off, therefore if the police did stop me and say you have illegal plates i can go oh sorry their for show and pull the others out of the boot

[Trail of Dead]

Forgive me for asking but I am TOTALLY lost when it comes to license plates over here. Why does it matter what color your plates are? Why would it fail an MOT if it had black/silver plates? I thought the MOT was meant to check the car to make sure it is safe to drive. What do the color of the plates have anything at all to do with safety? Also, why does the license plate belong to the car and not the owner? How can Brits determine what year a car is based on it's license plate?

I have been horribly confused by all of this since I got here. It sounds so silly to make such a fuss over plates on a car. Personally I am going to run the normal yellow plate on the back of my Mini but I will have a stick on (one of those decals) "plate" on the bonnet of my Mini. I know it must sound sort of "rude" in a way but I have a Pennsylvania drivers license (which is actually expired now!) so if a local cop was to pull me over I really can't see how I'd lose my license. I've been driving for ages now so I'm not too concerned about being pulled over about a license plate's color.....

But anyhow, yeah, why the big deal over the color of the plate? Why does the law care?

[tadleysimon]

no idea why the law cares but they do so we gotta play by their rules. i can only guess that black/silver and stick on plates dont get picked up by the auto reg checker thing, and if there not reflective then its harder for the police to read at nightime (if there chasing you for example)

you can fail an mot on plates because a mot isnt just for safty, its for legality as well. for example, my mate got caught with a VERY picky mot tester who wanted to fail his golf (witch is on coilies) for having the suspension too stiff! lucky he was talked round by another tester.

ive had black and silver plates on my 1980 clubman for a year and i havent been pulled, i guess it luck but i think its also about how you drive, if you drive like a pecker then they will pull you over and start getting picky.

two of my mates have been caught with illegal plates. one got a £40 fine and one had to have his car re-mot'd.

[adam_93rio]

Forgive me for asking but I am TOTALLY lost when it comes to license plates over here. Why does it matter what color your plates are? Why would it fail an MOT if it had black/silver plates? I thought the MOT was meant to check the car to make sure it is safe to drive. What do the color of the plates have anything at all to do with safety? Also, why does the license plate belong to the car and not the owner? How can Brits determine what year a car is based on it's license plate?

I have been horribly confused by all of this since I got here. It sounds so silly to make such a fuss over plates on a car. Personally I am going to run the normal yellow plate on the back of my Mini but I will have a stick on (one of those decals) "plate" on the bonnet of my Mini. I know it must sound sort of "rude" in a way but I have a Pennsylvania drivers license (which is actually expired now!) so if a local cop was to pull me over I really can't see how I'd lose my license. I've been driving for ages now so I'm not too concerned about being pulled over about a license plate's color.....

But anyhow, yeah, why the big deal over the color of the plate? Why does the law care?

basically the plate belongs to the car so the identity of the car is shown at all times, if the car is sold then the plate (and number) goes with that car.
if the plate belonged to the driver then he/she would be the only person allowed to drive it surely?
we can tell the age of a car by its plate because of what reg mark it carries, so cars made after 2001 will have 2 letters then 01 for the first 6 months and 51 for the second 6 months of the year, (depending when the car was registered), before this however we had a letter instead of numbers for the registration, so yr 2000 was an x reg, on of my cars is an L reg (L194 MNU) you can tell which letter it is as it is the side of the number plate with the numbers. L reg is 93/94
the licence plate is there to show the age of the car and year it was first registered, thus showing the age of the car.
dont quote me on this either but i think the last three letters is a code that shows the location of where the car was registered.

does this help at all?