Shiny shiny new stuff

[Petrol feet driven]

I have stated to work on my car more and more now the coldness is drifting away to warmer days. (or its the gas heater) Well I went out to Fast prints and got myself some new number plates that are stickers. They are just a tad smaller then the old plate, and also refective just like a real one.

I went in expecting them to cost a lot but it only cost £30. +vat. I got 6 made from one roll. You pay for the roll in 2 meters and he said I'll make as many as I can. We worked out the numbers and the lettering so it was going to be ok with the dvla. The O is larger then the N & L but our eyes see it as the same size.

Also I got my new Quicksilver Sports Exhaust

Looks amazing loving it, I have started to take off the old one but some of the bolts are so rusty and stuck I'm having a little trouble getting them undone.

Here are some over views of the sexy beast. £472.70 tax incl. so just a tad less then the Larini and looks almost the same.

More shiny bits to follow soon.

[andydclements]

We worked out the numbers and the lettering so it was going to be ok with the dvla. The O is larger then the N & L but our eyes see it as the same size.

But it's not as per regs so the police and DVLA can still have you for it. Police/ MOT on basis it's not meeting regs, DVLA could argue (doubt they will) that as it's not as per regs it's not as it should be displayed = potentially forfeit plate.

[Petrol feet driven]

Oh ok well in that case I will keep the old plate in the boot and just say I forgot to put it back on after a track day.

[Petrol feet driven]

I have looked to see if there is anything about the sticker plate. Or potentially a forfeit plate but unable to find anything on it. I will phone and ask them for more info.

Plates.

[Advantage]

Number plates have to conform to certain refelectivity standards (amongst a myriad of other things) and so far there are no sticky plates which meet this criteria. If the plate has been fitted to the car since 2001, there's also the requirement for the plate to display the British Standard mark BS AU 145d and a way of identifying both the component supplier and sales outlet.

Bureaucrats. Don't you just luv 'em?

[alan]

For the no plate the most obvious thing that might be wrong is as mentioned above it does not have the small print (postcode etc) below the number. Thats an easy way for the police to check if its a legit plate.

If of course someone was to copy the postcode, BS mark off another numberplate etc to put below the main text then that would be very naughty but it would look 100% legit and be very difficult to prove otherwise. Obviously not suggesting anyone should do this.....

[mayevora]

Spending more on the car than the wife!!

There's a man that likes to live dangerously

Nice exhaust - that's going to sound rather nice.

[molemot]

How much DOES the wife spend on the car, anyway?!!!

[cjtpb13]

Dave,

Nice looking bits. I have similar exhaust and only issue I found was an uneven flow. The right handed tip blew out more exhaust than the left handed tip...solved the issue with a bit of " fine tuning at the joints...but the sound is " ace " as Bibs would say...I cannot sneak into my neighbourhood with the car...

Christopher

...and I agree...living dangerously spending more on the S4 than your wife...lol

Edited February 2, 2011 by cjtpb13

[fitz]

What do you have to have writen below then? I got Lotus Cars Ltd. Norwich, England put below mine is that not ok then?

Buddsy

You have to have the full address + trading name of the outlet that supplied you, the letters must be uniform, in the standard dvla typefont and spacings, it must not have any technologies aimed at preventing it from being read by ANPR / Speed cameras (most of which have been proved not to work in anycase). It must not have any icons on the left other than a country symbol (IE no playboy bunnies etc etc), I don't even beleive you are allowed to have a tag line at the bottom (IE if you can read this your too close)

http://www.regtransfers.co.uk/main/car_numberplates_regulations.asp

In other words, just go down to halfords....the boys in blue will take a very dim view if they can't read it on ANPR...

[Bibs]

What's the worse case, £30 fine?

[Petrol feet driven]

Thanks everyone for you feedback, and there is always one hay John. Haa haa teach me to think more about what I write. Even more so when my wife reads this topic..

Christopher, thanks for the tip I will look out for that, once fitted.

I hope to save up enough money to take my wife to NY and then enjoy a horse and carriage ride around the city. (etc) So living dangerously until caught.

Yer you right Bibs, but to tell the truth I don't think they will bother as I have put new and old plates in the back of the garage just now. Then shined a light on them and they both are the same in refection. Didn't get to phone the DVLA on what they think on this matter, but may phone just to see where I stand.

[fitz]

Maximum fine of £1000 and forfiet of the plates according to direct.gov.uk! (actually a lot of useful info on that page under motoring)

[Petrol feet driven]

Several members of the Yahoo mail list have asked the opinion of some friendly members of Her Majesty's Constabulary and their opinion is that as long as the plate is clear and easy to read they don't care.

[fitz]

yes - to be fair, yours are and i imagine are able to read by ANPR, so you'd have to be pretty unlucky!

[Petrol feet driven]

Lets hope not the latter, but from the info I have got I will make sure my plates are fine before I deside to use them.

Each character must be 79mm high and 50mm wide (except the number 1 or the letter I). The width of each character stroke must be 14mm. There must be a space of 11mm between characters within the same group, and character groups must be 33mm apart. For the purposes of measurement, each character (again, excepting the number 1 or the letter I), regardless of its shape, is treated as a rectangular block of dimensions 79mm x 50mm

Mine are a little smaller than what is told, but for only £30 I can get new ones made.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Petrol feet driven

[mayevora]

Dave I think the max fine is in the region of £1K but I've never met or known anybody yet to get a fine of any significance.

Alot of bikers (including me when I had one) had a smaller than actually allowable plate on the back. Only got pulled over the once on a bike and he pointed out the error of my way with the plate, smiled and said "on yer way". Also take in the proper one for the MOT.

Most Police do proper Policeing and are only going to pull you if nothing to do, which isn't that often anymore, or in a really pedantic frame of mind.

[oneshot]

I hope to save up enough money to take my wife to NY and then enjoy a horse and carriage ride around the city. (etc) So living dangerously until caught.

did the carriage ride round Central Park - very romantic something that has to be done. Helped that we were staying in a hotel overlooking Central Park (Ritz Carlton)

[wookiecj]

Several members of the Yahoo mail list have asked the opinion of some friendly members of Her Majesty's Constabulary and their opinion is that as long as the plate is clear and easy to read they don't care.

Was stopped by the police one night about 100 yards from home who pointed out that my front numbers on my Mantis were a tad too small and might cause problems with the ANPR systems. He also said that he didn't care but that some of his fellow officers were sticklers for that sort of thing and it would be a shame to get pulled by one of then for a minor irregularity. Of course I innocently protested ignorance because they were the plates put on by the previous owner. It was actually a car dealer's private car so I assumed that it would conform to the regulations The rear plate is standard but the front was the one under discussion. A few more minutes of chat about the car and I was on my way.

I subsequently measured them against a new bog standard car and of course he was right. I've not been stopped since so I suspect that he may just have wanted to eyeball the car and saw that as an excuse to get up close to it.

[Petrol feet driven]

People using moblie phone while driving and others with no mot or cover on their cars. On my way to work I drive pass a police car nealy every day. I have seen people on their phones and the police just sit there. Just to be on the safe side I will get a sticker plate made with the correct size and any details that need to be on it. That way if pulled over it will only fail on the refectiveness, what is ok but I don't think will be to much of a problem.

As Bibs pointed out drivers that dont even have a front plate have had a fine of £30.

[Trevsked]

As Bibs pointed out drivers that dont even have a front plate have had a fine of £30.

£60 now I believe but either way not the end of the world. I have in the back of my mind a memory of it being better to have no front plate than an ilegal one.

Trevor.