Number plates, showing your registration number correctly.

sevenhills

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.

https://www.gov.uk/displaying-number-plates

I have recently seen number plates with different spacing, this doesn't seem to be covered by what is stated above.

Is it ok to re-space the digits on a number plate? I saw TRI4CEY   today, lots of similar ones online for £300/400

Having different spacing makes them easier to read, is PC Plod going to pull you over and issue a fine?

molerat

They do occasionally pull someone for a mis spaced plate

I know someone who had *F10 NA*  and had it spaced *  F10NA  * and got pulled,  Generally no fine just a vehicle defect rectification notice.

Grumpy_chap

TR14CEY should be TR14 CEY.

Re-spacing is not permitted within the rules.

PC Plod may pull you over for an incorrect spacing, especially if they see something else they do not like, this is just an extra way to draw attention to yourself where otherwise you may have been given greater benefit of doubt.  It is surprising on programmes such as Police Interceptors how many times they stop a drug dealer without knowing and it was the blinged up car mods that were the first reason to be stopped - often smoked lights or windows.

user1977

sevenhills said:

Having different spacing makes them easier to read, is PC Plod going to pull you over and issue a fine?

Making them look a bit more like the word they're not isn't necessarily making the actual registration "easier to read" - especially if it's done in a way which upsets ANPR.

Car_54

sevenhills said:

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.

https://www.gov.uk/displaying-number-plates

I have recently seen number plates with different spacing, this doesn't seem to be covered by what is stated above.

Is it ok to re-space the digits on a number plate? I saw TRI4CEY   today, lots of similar ones online for £300/400

Having different spacing makes them easier to read, is PC Plod going to pull you over and issue a fine?

If you followed the link you've quoted you'd find a 12-page leaflet giving more details of the regulations.

Plod may indeed pull you over and issue a fine. You may also end up in court (£1,000 maximum fine), and DVLA can cancel the number you've paid £000s for.

Abbafan1972

I have seen quite a few where a screw head had been placed to make a particular character look like something else. 

Also there is a car that goes around my neighbourhood (not seen it for a while tbh).  It's CE12 YSX.  The 2 has been slanted and put really close to the 1 and it's all been run together to read CERYSX.  I wonder if she's ever been stopped?

sevenhills

Car_54 said:

Plod may indeed pull you over and issue a fine. You may also end up in court (£1,000 maximum fine), and DVLA can cancel the number you've paid £000s for.

The price of these plates, all in, is around £300/400, I quite like them, but not sure if I would spend £300

AdrianC

Abbafan1972 said:

I have seen quite a few where a screw head had been placed to make a particular character look like something else. 

Also there is a car that goes around my neighbourhood (not seen it for a while tbh).  It's CE12 YSX.  The 2 has been slanted and put really close to the 1 and it's all been run together to read CERYSX.  I wonder if she's ever been stopped?

Some years ago, there was an Audi Q7 near where I lived. The plate was in a godawful script font, mis-spaced to sort-of-read "LUCYLOU", if you squinted a bit.

One day, it was bearing perfectly standard plates, spaced properly. LU57 LOU.

Somehow, I don't think that was going to be interpreted in the intended fashion.

Ebe_Scrooge

As others have said, you can in theory be pulled over for having a numberplate that doesn't comply with the rules on spacing or letter size.  In practice it's unlikely - though, as Grumpy Chap says, it does give them a legitimate reason to stop you if they have a suspicion that something else may be amiss.  I think the relatively large number of mis-spaced plates you see around would suggest that it's rare to actually get pulled over for it.

Many years ago I worked with a guy who had mis-spaced plated that kind of spelled out his name.  He did say that he had a set of "proper" plates that he put on when it went in for its MOT, then switched them back again for the rest of the year.  The car should fail the MOT if the number-plate doesn't comply with the regulations - I'm not sure whether some testers would turn a blind eye or not.

searchlight123

Ebe_Scrooge said:

As others have said, you can in theory be pulled over for having a numberplate that doesn't comply with the rules on spacing or letter size.  In practice it's unlikely - though, as Grumpy Chap says, it does give them a legitimate reason to stop you if they have a suspicion that something else may be amiss.  I think the relatively large number of mis-spaced plates you see around would suggest that it's rare to actually get pulled over for it.

Many years ago I worked with a guy who had mis-spaced plated that kind of spelled out his name.  He did say that he had a set of "proper" plates that he put on when it went in for its MOT, then switched them back again for the rest of the year.  The car should fail the MOT if the number-plate doesn't comply with the regulations - I'm not sure whether some testers would turn a blind eye or not.

some MoT centres do not pick up on it (or they didn't a few years ago. Some years ago i had K77 ONY and it was spaced to read K7 TONY. i once forgot to change the number prior to an MoT but it still passed.

AdrianC

tonygold said:

some MoT centres do not pick up on it (or they didn't a few years ago. Some years ago i had K77 ONY and it was spaced to read K7 TONY. i once forgot to change the number prior to an MoT but it still passed.

For quite a while, plate legality was not part of the MOT. It is now.

A quick google finds that it was introduced in 2007 for the first time, suspended from the test in 2008, removed in 2009, and reintroduced in 2018.

Current test requirements:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/0-identification-of-the-vehicle#section-0-1

It's possible that a tester will not follow that part of the test... but for the sake of a bit of vanity, do you want to risk it?