£30 for registration plates

diesel9181

hi i hope someone can give me a bit of advice
i was stopped by the police a few weeks ago, the reason? my registration plates were deemed to be illegal as the font was 20mm too small. they are perfectly legible but turns out the font used is not the road legal one. anyway the police said i would get a £30 fine, however i was so annoyed at them wasting their time and mine (4 police officers and 2 cars for 20 minutes and they never even checked my tyres lol) that i refused to accept the fine and i was informed that it would go to court. anyway a few weeks after this i received a fixed penalty in the post for £30. should i just pay it? or wait to see if it goes to court and maybe save myself £30, or possibly incurr an even larger fine? i have new registration plates now anyway so all legal again!

catz1ct

Just pay the fine and get some new plates, it's only £30 after all. The font is illegal so I can't see you being able to fight it in court. :P You'll probably end up a lot worse off if you do.

Illegal fonts on number plates look pants anyway. Get 'em changed ASAP.

diesel9181

the whole point was i didnt realise they were illegal they look the same as the others, they seemed to take in a new font a couple of years back when the new style registrations came out so prior to 51 plates most of them are illegal! i just thought it was such a minor thing that the court probably wouldnt even bother but thanks for being so helpful and constructive with your comments they were greatly appreciated

catz1ct

diesel9181 wrote: »

the whole point was i didnt realise they were illegal they look the same as the others, they seemed to take in a new font a couple of years back when the new style registrations came out so prior to 51 plates most of them are illegal!

Can't say i've ever heard of that

diesel9181

yeh just like i have done previously, 3 years later not a peep! but thank you again for your most helpful comments.

diesel9181

oooh whats this gang up on me? i asked a question and everybody is less than constructive with their comments. thanks

david29dpo

The misuse of number plates is getting a big problem now and the police are clamping down on it. Quite right i say, i have seen some ridiculous plates altered. The law is the law, like it or lump it.

LandyAndy

diesel9181 wrote: »

the whole point was i didnt realise they were illegal they look the same as the others, they seemed to take in a new font a couple of years back when the new style registrations came out so prior to 51 plates most of them are illegal! i just thought it was such a minor thing that the court probably wouldnt even bother but thanks for being so helpful and constructive with your comments they were greatly appreciated

The previous 'official' font is still legal. Its just that you shouldn't be able to get replacement plates made up with that font.

MrsTinks

david29dpo wrote: »

The misuse of number plates is getting a big problem now and the police are clamping down on it. Quite right i say, i have seen some ridiculous plates altered. The law is the law, like it or lump it.

Agreed - ultimately if the police says the font is illigal then chances are it's illigal. Whether it's still legible or not isn't the point, wheere would you start drawing the line on enforcing the law if you didn't clamp down on ALL illegal fonts?
It's only £30, my advice is pay the fine, unless you are 100% sure that the font is legal and the plate is legal... otherwise you're just wasting your time and the courts time and I guess they could up the fine?
And the font being 20mm too small... that's 2 cm, or just uder an inch too small, and actually in the scale of a license plate a fair size difference.
As for how many police officers it takes... who knows All I know is that 99% of the time they do a damned good job out there

OverlandLandy

diesel9181 wrote: »

oooh whats this gang up on me? i asked a question and everybody is less than constructive with their comments. thanks

The commets or replies dont look to have any bias - Perhaps its just not the response that you were looking for?

IMHO - I would pay the fine - its £30 and wont break the bank @ less than the cost of a tank full of fuel!

You could gamble and go to court but if you loose the fine could be much higher and you could face increased penalty points.

One of my old collegues at work 'challenged' the police for a speeding ticked - and instead of 3 points and a fine he ended up getting a 6 month ban -He was speeding outside the Sheriff's kids school and she wanted to 'make an example of him' He vocally protested to her in the courtroom and got fined for contempt of court!

I guess its up to you - its your choice. Its a calulated 'risk' - Pay £30 now or pay an unknown sum later! Plus if you need time of work this may involve you loosing wages?

In relation to the 'old style' number plates - you are partially correct - but its like the old Silver and Black plates - they are 'Illegal' for use on cars manufactured after 1st Jan 1973....but OK for ones produced before this date.

philhuff

All vehicles manufactured after 1 January 1973 must display number plates of reflex-reflecting material, white at the front and yellow at the rear, the characters must be black (i.e., 'normal' plates). In addition, the characters on number plates purchased from 1 September 2001 will need to conform to the following specifications...

Character height 79 mm
Character width (except the figure 1 or letter I) 50 mm
Character stroke 14 mm
Space between characters 11 mm
Space between groups 33 mm
Top, bottom and side margins (minimum) 11 mm
Space between vertical lines 19 mm

Additionally, all number plates made after 31 August 2001 must display the mandatory typeface. Number plates made prior to this date must be substantially the same.

If you meet the criteria, fight it. If you don't, pay the fine.

Hope that helps.