You might be surprised! MOT time soon, being of a legal background I know the law is black & white. My rear plate measures 9x6.5", its should be 9x7, so being pedantic I ordered a new legal plate off eBay with a Saltire and SCO to the bottom left, plus name & post code of maker + BS AU 145d. When it turned up it had a 'kin EU badge, no Saltire, what a bloody insult! So I contacted the seller who told me it was illegal to have the 'scotch badge' as he called it, insult no.2, so I got onto DVLA who, after a hell of a struggle to get to the right person, informed me its not, the EU stars and country name need to be reflective as it was an EU ruling, but the country flag and wording do not as they were instigated by British legislation, so, I thought I was home and dry and could demand a refund. Turns out the maker is in breach of copyright, fraud and counterfeit laws as he needs to be a DVLA approved seller, which he is not and DVLA owns the lay-out design copyright. All those sellers on eBay are illegal if they do not ask for vehicle and buyers identification, print on BS AU 145d and sell the plate MOT/DVLA legal and not sell as 'show plates' and are NOT DVLA APPROVED. If you use a 'show plate' it must not have the small print, and its illegal anyway. I asked why DVLA had not stopped eBay from listing them and the answer was vague, really meaning cant be arsed, and, crucially it seems its technically illegal to use them as they are not officially supplied, although if it looks to comply with all the regs its highly unlikely the Police would do anything like looking up to see if its made by an official supplier. As for MOT, the tester just needs to see it conforms, end of! The reason they need & must have the makers details is for vehicle trace-ability like in false plate, remember the Manchester lorry bomb?, it was as a direct result of that all the rules came in. The official makers have to keep records of who they made for, for a set period of time for the vehicle to be traced, all this but they still cant trace a vehicle by VIN details alone! I put all this to my plate maker, guess what, I got an instant refund! Now I'll just chance the 9X6.5, it has the original dealers name (more like an advert) of Rafferty Numan Portsmouth, that's done every MOT since 2006 which I have and no fails because of it, I think I should be o.k.
Spoke to guy in local car shop, last week ,and he says there are more changes next year to do with 3d effect letters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehic...ndencies_and_overseas_territories#Motorcycles
my one is legal, and it looks huge its also vertical. I sometimes think I must be a mug, cos if I am in a group, and they are all 45 degrees and small. guess who gets the pull later that night. Seems alot of guys go along to the M O T with a spare legal one in their back- pack
Yep, my DVLA lady mentioned 'font changes & fixing ', but said as far as she can make out they will apply to new vehicles from a certain date, if its legal now on your vehicle it will still be after that date. I think the fixing is so it breaks up or tears the backing off if an attempt to steal it from its vehicle. What the font changes are I'm not sure off, but you could well be right.
I normally run an 8x6 ans never had a pull or failed MOT I did have a 7x5 plate (and arrow race system) on my ZX6R couple of years ago and when I was near my house a cop car was waiting in a little cul de sac as I passed.... I watched him in my mirrors for a while and he watched me for a good while (20mph limit) then turned the other way and off he went Pulled up by home, wheeled my bike up the drive backwards, unlocked the garage, turned round and noticed I had no plate My whole tail tidy had snapped off ha ha ha
Always ran with a 7x5 plate without issue. I personally think messing with the font gets you noticed more than an undersized plate.
Are number plates still 'stick-on' ones in the UK? Over here in France they are riveted on as a semi-permanent fixture. Yes you can drill 'em out, but you can't easily pull them off.
Some are stick-on that destroy them selves if they are pulled off in an attempt to steal them, others are stick on with pads, or plastic/self tapping screws. I think future plans are to have a DVLA approved badge incorporated between the face of the yellow and perspex that will only be issued to DVLA approved makers cutting out the eBay cowboys. If it aint got the badge, it aint legal! Then watch the price go up!
