Loophole closed for black & silver number plates

[slim_boy_fat]

Can I fit a black plate or not? (I'd like to)

In your position I would.

But here's a thought to consider.

If you fit the incorrect style of number plate to your vehicle or fit one that's had the characters moved to spell your name, your vehicle does not conform to Construction and Use regulations. Therefore your insurance is invalid and you're also guilty of fraud for falsely declaring that your vehicle is legal and above board.

Interesting thought, imo.

I got done for my plate [parked right outside my front door] while I was clearing frost off the windows ] and issued with a 'vehicle defect notice - no mention of invalidated insurance and was given 2 weeks to get 'conforming' plates fitted & present verification to the Police Station [which we don't have . Officers [I knew them personally]admitted it was a quiet day in Noddysville and they were just meeting targets.

Luckily another constable lived across the road, so I showed her the proof - she just snorted and say "Aye, OK".

Not on the DVLA database as far as I can see.

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

 

[RonA]

Transgression or not of the law, at least the black & silver plates can be read. Absolutely amazed at the number of personalised or plates “doctored” to read someones name, which clearly don't conform to the required standard. How do they pass the MOT test & how often are they stopped by the Police
RonA

 

[RWD3M]

Transgression or not of the law, at least the black & silver plates can be read. Absolutely amazed at the number of personalised or plates “doctored” to read someones name, which clearly don't conform to the required standard. How do they pass the MOT test & how often are they stopped by the Police
RonA

They are probably swapped out for the MoT and plod are too busy nicking criminals (aren't they )

 

[James1979]

In your position I would.



I got done for my plate [parked right outside my front door] while I was clearing frost off the windows ] and issued with a 'vehicle defect notice - no mention of invalidated insurance and was given 2 weeks to get 'conforming' plates fitted & present verification to the Police Station [which we don't have . Officers [I knew them personally]admitted it was a quiet day in Noddysville and they were just meeting targets.

Luckily another constable lived across the road, so I showed her the proof - she just snorted and say "Aye, OK".



https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

Your link works fine. The one I usually use in my bookmarks gave the result in my post. Must the the same one @Matchless has?

so my Romanian theory is wrong then. Dunno. I’m all out of ideas!!

 

[colnerov]

Hi, There are two Gov sites you can check, one shows it the other doesn't. So that's all joined up information.

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/?locale=en

Or make sure you're using the latest URL address, the earlier (beta) ones don't return results now.

Colin

 

[8ob]

I use euro car parts website to find out what vehicle a reg number belongs to.

Bob

 

[RWD3M]

There's a DVLA twilight zone.
An 11 year old Vauxhall near me has a seemingly valid yet untenable plate, CV77UFC

Well, I've just read the entire Wiki page on the subject of UK registration plates (no mean feat by the way!) and I'm at a loss to explain it! Weird!

 

[daro]

But here's a thought to consider.

If you fit the incorrect style of number plate to your vehicle or fit one that's had the characters moved to spell your name, your vehicle does not conform to Construction and Use regulations. Therefore your insurance is invalid and you're also guilty of fraud for falsely declaring that your vehicle is legal and above board.

Interesting thought, imo.

where do you get that info from ?
that the insurance is invalid and you are committing fraud , with a number plate !

It is like people who say if your tax or MOT expire then your insurance is automatically invalid - this is not true ,
I had a colleague who insisted this was true , but read I my insurance policy - which had no mention of either, and called the insurance company who confirmed it was untrue

 

[James1979]

where do you get that info from ?
that the insurance is invalid and you are committing fraud , with a number plate !

It is like people who say if your tax or MOT expire then your insurance is automatically invalid - this is not true ,
I had a colleague who insisted this was true , but read I my insurance policy - which had no mention of either, and called the insurance company who confirmed it was untrue

you are correct. Insurance is a legal requirement. The ins and outs of what they’ll cover and in what circumstances are a civil contract. The insurer can act outside that contract if they see fit as long as they don’t undermine / invalidate the contract.

for example. If you drive a mates car but wrongly think you’re covered under your policy as 3rd party and you get stopped for it, the police may pursue a prosecution for no insurance. If your insurer feels that for whatever reason they will say that they are happy to cover you (honest mistake, valued customer, you got them on a good day) then the police case will collapse as there is no offence to answer.

as said before I did a bit for the feds a few years back and you pick stuff up. The above happens more than you’d think

 

[4String.]

where do you get that info from ?
that the insurance is invalid and you are committing fraud , with a number plate !

You didn't read the post correctly .

What I said was that if your number plate doesn't conform to Construction and Use regulations, (and almost all motor vehicles are covered by them, not just lorries), your vehicle isn't legal. If it were, why does it say " You could be fined up to £1,000 and your vehicle will fail its MOT test if you drive with incorrectly displayed number plates" in GOV.UK?.

Have a read, all the requirements are in there. And while I doubt that anyone has ever had an insurance problem due to illegal plates, the simple fact is that a condition of motor insurance is maintaining a vehicle in a roadworthy condition.

If you're happy to drive a vehicle which has illegal plates fitted to it, be my guest. But if ever you run into me I'll make it known to the Police and the insurers that your vehicle doesn't conform to C&U regs.

 

[8ob]

I think it’s fair to say there are some laws in amongst the construction&uses that are a cash cow, like plates,the odd bulb, chipped /cracked screens or mirrors. Quite often not a danger to anyone but something spotty new patrol plod will use while teething. Can’t see insurers making a fuss over some of these .

Bob

 

[James1979]

Some of the C&U stuff makes no sense. Failed bulb in rear for example, I dunno - eg brake light. If you check your vehicle when you take it out as you should do by the letter of the law or even if you just keep an eye on things, what’s to say that brake light didn’t fail an hour before you got stopped? These things happen. I know it’s a C&U offence but sometimes things like that are overlooked, dealt with with a verbal pointing out, or just reserved for those who fail the attitude test.

guy I used to work for was a total knob. To everyone. Seemed hardly a month or two went by without him getting stopped and a penalty for something. In the whole time I worked for him I got stopped a number of times and usually got a warning if that.

 

[Rannsachair]

I got pulled for towing a small 3 metre inflatable dingy I had bought down south and had Shipley deliver to Glasgow, it was supposed to have a trailer board that had gone missing, it was daylight when I picked it up, so decided to risk the drive to Lochgilphead.

I got pulled half way home at Tarbet at a drugs check stop, the cop was totally understanding and just let me go with a be careful.
Half an hour later got to Inveraray and the rain starts, so the Traffic cops pull me over, I explain I had already been stopped by the police, but they just said it was not us and had me standing in the pouring rain as they check the trailer then in the back of the car (they park in a massive puddle so I have to go in over my trainers to get in the car ) then half an hour of questions: who did I buy it off, where do I work etc and they keep me half an hour so it is getting dark.... then tell me it is not safe for me to drive it home in the dark so officially I need to leave it. Though they did say they were not heading my direction so would not know what I did though if I drove it home and was involved in an accident I would be prosecuted as they had on record they had stopped me and told me not too. Suffice to say I was not impressed, though roads were dead and I had a safe trip home.

 

[RWD3M]

I got pulled for towing a small 3 metre inflatable dingy I had bought down south and had Shipley deliver to Glasgow, it was supposed to have a trailer board that had gone missing, it was daylight when I picked it up, so decided to risk the drive to Lochgilphead.

I got pulled half way home at Tarbet at a drugs check stop, the cop was totally understanding and just let me go with a be careful.
Half an hour later got to Inveraray and the rain starts, so the Traffic cops pull me over, I explain I had already been stopped by the police, but they just said it was not us and had me standing in the pouring rain as they check the trailer then in the back of the car (they park in a massive puddle so I have to go in over my trainers to get in the car ) then half an hour of questions: who did I buy it off, where do I work etc and they keep me half an hour so it is getting dark.... then tell me it is not safe for me to drive it home in the dark so officially I need to leave it. Though they did say they were not heading my direction so would not know what I did though if I drove it home and was involved in an accident I would be prosecuted as they had on record they had stopped me and told me not too. Suffice to say I was not impressed, though roads were dead and I had a safe trip home.

It's things like that, as legitimate as they might be, that get (some) plod a bad rep.

Shame.

Glad you got home safe

 

[Exuptoy]

That 2009 insignia is indeed an anomaly. I use a superb free app called Vehicle Smart which you can check for mot and mileage history and likely cost of VED.
The Vauxhall details are shown below!

 

[James1979]

It's things like that, as legitimate as they might be, that get (some) plod a bad rep.

Shame.

Glad you got home safe

Good and bad in all jobs. Some of them are just downright awkward.

unfortunately traffic attracts a certain character of person for what I believe is two reasons. Firstly the vast amount of rules and regs you need to memorise to pass the traffic course and secondly the fact that traffic law is very black and white. People who are very successful at this tend not to be flexible or empathetic.

Traffic officer im friendly with has a huge number of prosecutions compared to his colleagues. Really nice bloke but his nickname is ‘the automaton’. Says it all really and I’m convinced he’s “on the spectrum”

 

[qwakers]

Where did you find that?

Entirely possible, yes.
It's made up conventionally and shows up on the GOV MOT check.

 

[addjunkie]

I got pulled for towing a small 3 metre inflatable dingy I had bought down south and had Shipley deliver to Glasgow, it was supposed to have a trailer board that had gone missing, it was daylight when I picked it up, so decided to risk the drive to Lochgilphead.

I got pulled half way home at Tarbet at a drugs check stop, the cop was totally understanding and just let me go with a be careful.
Half an hour later got to Inveraray and the rain starts, so the Traffic cops pull me over, I explain I had already been stopped by the police, but they just said it was not us and had me standing in the pouring rain as they check the trailer then in the back of the car (they park in a massive puddle so I have to go in over my trainers to get in the car ) then half an hour of questions: who did I buy it off, where do I work etc and they keep me half an hour so it is getting dark.... then tell me it is not safe for me to drive it home in the dark so officially I need to leave it. Though they did say they were not heading my direction so would not know what I did though if I drove it home and was involved in an accident I would be prosecuted as they had on record they had stopped me and told me not too. Suffice to say I was not impressed, though roads were dead and I had a safe trip home.

While I find some of the rules a pain, traffic law is fairly clear, unlike many other things. But if the second plod hadnt adsked a few questions and it was your boat enroute to somewhere it shouldnt be, you wouldnt have been very happy.

 

[Rannsachair]

While I find some of the rules a pain, traffic law is fairly clear, unlike many other things. But if the second plod hadnt adsked a few questions and it was your boat enroute to somewhere it shouldnt be, you wouldnt have been very happy.

Aye, did cross my mind, though they had my reg and details in the first 2 minutes.

 

[James1979]

Todhills is usually good for a tug. They try and disrupt criminals and stolen plant etc going north / south.

I usually time it for the wee hours as it’s not 24/7 anymore. Go through middle of the day and you’re there ages. They’re usually decent enough it’s just time I don’t need to use up.