Why do we have plastic number plates in the UK?

LondonDiva

My friend from NZ came to stay with me last month and asked why the UK has plastic number plates.

I don't know why (never occurred to me to check before!) and wondered whether anyone knew? Apparently if I were a bloke I would have thought about this at one stage or the other:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Thanks in advance for any info:)

WickedWolfie

LondonDiva wrote: »

My friend from NZ came to stay with me last month and asked why the UK has plastic number plates.

I don't know why (never occurred to me to check before!) and wondered whether anyone knew? Apparently if I were a bloke I would have thought about this at one stage or the other:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Thanks in advance for any info:)

Two possibilities come to mind:
a The reflective properties which can be embedded in plastic number plates;
b Pedestrian safety - they are less likely to do damage.

pavlovs_dog

at the risk of sounding dull, what are the Kiwi ones made out of?

maninthestreet

We used to have pressed steel plates prior to the late sixties, but these were non-reflective.

espresso

We also had pressed alloy plates that were reflective!

Sgt_Pepper_2

maninthestreet wrote: »

We used to have pressed steel plates prior to the late sixties, but these were non-reflective.

Pressed plates were still about in the 80s

Marauder999

Cheaper to make than say metal ones?

Stigy

Maybe there's no reason....Why does everybody else have metal ones?

Gloomendoom

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

at the risk of sounding dull, what are the Kiwi ones made out of?

Pressed aluminium.

red_eye

WickedWolfie wrote: »

Two possibilities come to mind:
a The reflective properties which can be embedded in plastic number plates;
b Pedestrian safety - they are less likely to do damage.

cheaper to make, the plastic is clear acrylic, the numbers and letters are transfers that are stuck on to the acrylic and then a reflective sticker.
the plastic can brake into sharp pointy bits whereas ally would just bend

Weird_Nev

A lot of thought has gone into the design and construction of UK numberplates, and having travelled the world (Europe US, NZ, Australia, India, Indonesia and surrounds) I have to say I think that UK plates stand out as some of the most clearly legible to be found anywhere.

They are durable, reflective, cheap to replace, easy to read and hard to tamper with without it being obvious.

So I think the better question is "why does much of the world still use pressed tin?"