Keeping your number plate clean

The owner of a Volkswagen Golf found out the hard way recently when the police pulled them over for that very thing.

“Please ensure your number plates are clean in Coventry” the police tweeted, along with an image of the offending vehicle. The rear plate was so dirty as to be nearly unreadable.

But it’s not just in Coventry you need to keep your plates clean. The DVLA rules state that number plates must always be clearly displayed on the UK public roads, which includes keeping them clean enough to read. Failure to do so can result in a £100 fine, as this VW driver discovered.

Coventry Police were kind enough to provide a wipe for cleaning the plate but joked it would have been much cheaper for the driver to have bought a whole pack and cleaned their plates prior to being pulled over!

It can be particularly common in the winter months when bad weather can lead to muddy plates or even an accumulation of frozen snow.

Oh, and if your plates don’t display the registration mark correctly by miss-spacing characters, using a fancy typeface or adding stickers to your plates, that £100 fine soars up to £1000.

Recent changes to rules regarding number plates have seen the British Standard updated to ensure the plates are tougher and clearer to read. For example, the two-tone printed design that made the registration appear 3D is no longer allowed.

The latest 4D plates are all the rage and ours are entirely legal. In fact, our 4D plates are so well-made that even if a letter or number gets knocked off in an accident, they are still legal, because the usual number plate is printed behind them!

Accurately spaced registration marks, clearly displayed on clean number plates, ensure that vehicles can be properly identified by law enforcement, as well as by automatic number plate recognition technology (or ANPR), so save yourself some money by keeping your plates legal and dirt-free!

Looking for a new personalised registration mark? You can also save yourself some money by visiting us at plates4less.co.uk where you’ll find the biggest selection of private plates, in price ranges to suit any budget. Whether you are looking for your name, initials, a word or just a cool cover plate, we can help!