Whacky Signs.

[kevinlms]

42 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

It is, I think, evident that the photo was taken by someone in the passenger seat. 

Which is why I said.

 

If you were driving

 

Perhaps I should have highlighted 'IF' ?

 

The reason for my observation is that it wouldn't be the first time someone posted on Youtube or wherever, someone doing something illegal, but it is clear that they were breaking the law themselves - i.e. their speed is visible on the screen and the speed limit sign is of a lower value!

Edited March 3, 2023 by kevinlms
More info

[Ian Morgan]

It is also a legal requirement that the registration plate should have the supplier's details printed on it. Vanity plates do not have this, so are doubly illegal if used on public roads.

Edited March 3, 2023 by Ian Morgan

[Stubby47]

1 minute ago, Ian Morgan said:

It is also a legal requirement that the registration plate should have the supplier's details printed on it. Vanity plates do not have this, so are doubly illegal if used on public roads.

 

Which supplier - the vehicle, or the plate itself ?

 

[Ian Morgan]

1 minute ago, Stubby47 said:

 

Which supplier - the vehicle, or the plate itself ?

 

 

The supplier of the plate

[Nick C]

Brought in when they introduced new rules requiring you to show ID and V5C when buying a plate - to make sure you were entitled to it (and so crack down on cloned plates) - the supplier's details meaning that the plate can be traced to them, and from their records back to the buyer. Except that people can still buy plates online with none of that, so it's effectively useless...

[kevinlms]

40 minutes ago, Nick C said:

Brought in when they introduced new rules requiring you to show ID and V5C when buying a plate - to make sure you were entitled to it (and so crack down on cloned plates) - the supplier's details meaning that the plate can be traced to them, and from their records back to the buyer. Except that people can still buy plates online with none of that, so it's effectively useless...

What a dodgy system even allowing multiple people to supply them. In Australia the states make them themselves and are available as a standard plate or a personalised one.

[PeterStiles]

1 hour ago, Nick C said:

Except that people can still buy plates online with none of that, so it's effectively useless...

 

well, you can get yourself plenty of illegal things online if you try hard enough; its actually attaching them to your car thats the bit that will get your fined/arrested/hung-drawn-and-quartered...

 

[Nick C]

2 minutes ago, PeterStiles said:

 

well, you can get yourself plenty of illegal things online if you try hard enough; its actually attaching them to your car thats the bit that will get your fined/arrested/hung-drawn-and-quartered...

 

yet they seem to get away with it, as per the van in the photo...

[PeterStiles]

4 minutes ago, Nick C said:

yet they seem to get away with it,

well, i don't know whether they did...

 

We can tell they were driving along like that when this photo was taken, but they could have been pulled up and the bracelets slapped on them fifty yards further up the street...

 

Or maybe not.

[J. S. Bach]

9 hours ago, kevinlms said:

What a dodgy system even allowing multiple people to supply them. In Australia the states make them themselves and are available as a standard plate or a personalised one.

Same here.

Here are the standard plates for each state:

https://www.insider.com/every-us-state-license-plate-2018-4

Be aware that each state may have fifty or more specialty, commemorative, vehicle type (bus, trailer, etc), organization (VFW, DAV, etc), Amateur Radio (most states for no extra charge), and many more plates. I suspect that there are close to two thousand legal varieties here. Remember that there are fifty states and quite a few U. S. territories in the mix. Just for fun, add in visitors from Canada, Mexico, and overseas!

 

No wonder license plate collecting is so popular; I even have a few myself, including the very first one (California on my first car, a 1963 Dodge 330; it has long since expired, both the car and the tag!!😉) issued to me:

The Maryland tag refers to EMUs, a few of us back then modeled in that field. Note that I still have these two! Probably about twenty feet from where I am sitting. Along with my last Florida and first South Carolina tags on the wall in front of me.

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by J. S. Bach
To add some information.

[melmerby]

10 hours ago, Ian Morgan said:

It is also a legal requirement that the registration plate should have the supplier's details printed on it. Vanity plates do not have this, so are doubly illegal if used on public roads.

Is that not just for the BS reflective plates?

Earlier vehicles don't need them.

[PhilJ W]

Its since the LLL-NN-LL registrations came in in 2001 that the supplier of the plate had to put their name on it. Unlike Australia and the USA the UK registration plates usually stay on the vehicle throughout its life irrespective of how many owners it has The only exceptions are vanity plates which can be transferred from vehicle to vehicle.

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Its since the LLL-NN-LL registrations came in in 2001 that the supplier of the plate had to put their name on it. Unlike Australia and the USA the UK registration plates usually stay on the vehicle throughout its life irrespective of how many owners it has The only exceptions are vanity plates which can be transferred from vehicle to vehicle.

Plenty of vehicles in Australia get new plates for various reasons, but generally keep them.

 

There was a large batch from the 1990s, where the paint used, faded very badly and became almost unreadable!

Changing states is another common reason.

Edited March 3, 2023 by kevinlms

[melmerby]

I suppose it doesn't help, that AFAIK in the UK the DVLA actually auction off desirable plates, with the vanity plate trade taking most (all?)

Offensive/obscene combinations are not issued.

You are also not allowed to used a date coded plate on a vehicle of different age, although that also seems to happen.

Edited March 4, 2023 by melmerby

[Dagworth]

14 minutes ago, melmerby said:

You are also not allowed to used a date coded plate on a vehicle of different age, although that also seems to happen

Is it not that you cannot put a plate on a vehicle that is newer than the vehicle itself?

 

 

[pH]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

 

Offensive/obscene combinations are not issued.

 

Eh, yes they are!

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, pH said:

Eh, yes they are!

Not supposed to be, but I guess if the person doing the checking of standards, misses the double meaning, then it's going to get through the system, until complaints start rolling in!

 

Some model railway layout names are on occasion a little dodgy.

[Johann Marsbar]

6 hours ago, Dagworth said:

Is it not that you cannot put a plate on a vehicle that is newer than the vehicle itself?

 

 

Yes, you can't put a plate on that makes the car look newer than it actually is.    I've got a J prefix plate on a vehicle that originally had an 03 plate without any problem, but if you tried to do that the other way round the DVLA would pick up on it and prevent the transfer.

[Ian Morgan]

In Germany, cars get a new registration every time they change owner. Cars on used car sales lots do not have plates fitted. The first letter(s) in the plate usually indicate the location of the owner, e.g. B for Berlin, M for Munich, FüS for Füssen. Some official organistations have their own letter codes, such as BP for Bundespolizei.

 

Registration plates also carry stickers. One sticker is the official land (county) registration seal , while the other one, on the rear only, shows the date the next Tüv (MoT) and emissions test is due.

 

Note that caravans and trailers carry their own registration number (different to the towing car) and also have to be Tüv tested each year.

 

[CameronL]

The best ego plate I ever saw was in about 2000 on the M25. The car was being driven by a real old Teddy boy - DA haircut  leopardskin drape coat, black shirt, narrow tie. He seemed to be quite a well-off old Ted: every finger of his right hand on the steering wheel had a chunky gold ring and the car was a Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit. The registration?  THE 60S.

[KeithMacdonald]

Seen in Plymouth (Mayflower Marina, 2014).

"Dell Boy"

Owned by Chris Dawson , who (like Rodney Trotter) started as a market trader. He then went on to build "The Range" chain of stores. He proudly told me he had paid £6,000 for the plate, and just one week later at Goodwood Festival, he'd been offered £20,000 for it - but as he liked it so much, he kept it 😀

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by KeithMacdonald
typo

[Welchester]

On the subject of number plates, my favourite, which was well before the era of vanity plates was ODD 1. It was on a quite a commonplace car, and was, I believe, a Gloucestershire registration.

[The Johnster]

20 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Seen in Plymouth (Mayflower Marina, 2014).

"Dell Boy"

Owned by Chris Dawson , who (like Rodney Trotter) started as a market trader. He then went on to build "The Range" chain of stores. He proudly told me he had paid £6,000 for the plate, and just one week later at Goodwood Festival, he'd been offered £20,000 for it - but as he liked it so much, he kept it 😀

 

‘This time next year, Rodney…’.  

 

Nice car, carp parking.  
 

 

[kernowtim]

PEN 15 was on a smart car belonging to a registration transfer company in Bedfordshire some years ago.

Many of the dodgy plates are sold from outside the UK,like the channel islands so the sellers are not bound by the same regulations that UK sellers have to abide to, although it is still an offence to fit to your vehicle!

All that should be on the plate is the registration number,with a space between letters and numbers, not the area code letters on post 2001 issued, the supplier of the plate, a code for the manufacturer of the components and the British standard mark, phone numbers, logos and Web addresses not permitted, although can be added to a lip on the bottom of the plate!

The font and spacing is defined by law.

The 'showplate' for off road use only  was outlawed some time ago, as oddly enough owners were using them on the road. 

[Johann Marsbar]

Mine's a bit more subtle........

 

 

...and came from the DVLA about 12 years ago at a very reasonable price that included the transfer payments.   Most of the other rail related LNE ones had gone by that time, with only J15 and J17 available when I looked, though I'm still amazed that someone from the NNR hadn't snapped that one up years before.....

 

Since that was taken, the loco has been backdated to a Y14 and the plate is on a different car.

 

.

Edited March 5, 2023 by Johann Marsbar
extra text added