Pri v ate pl ate ques tion

Uncle_Gravy · 25 Jul 2015 at 21:51

Trying to find a plate that matches GRAVY, proving quite difficult, GR04 AVY would be perfect as it says Gravy and my Z4 is on an 04 plate.

bainbridge · 26 Jul 2015 at 13:48

I drove round with the spacing altered for 7 years without incident, when I was flagged down for speeding the officer who issued the fixed penalty didn't mention it.

The correct ones are only on there now because they were switched to go through the mot in may and I've not bothered to change them back yet.

Conscript · 26 Jul 2015 at 14:59

pepsilol said:
Why does it have to have an explanation for a stranger?

Isn't the whole point of a private plate to show off to other people who are, on the whole, strangers? Presumably there's not much point if no one can understand it without explanation.

loltim · 26 Jul 2015 at 15:11

Uncle_Gravy said:
Trying to find a plate that matches GRAVY.

Why?

Conscript said:
Isn't the whole point of a private plate to show off to other people who are, on the whole, strangers? Presumably there's not much point if no one can understand it without explanation.

No. Generally it's to hide the age of a car

agnes · 26 Jul 2015 at 15:27

Hahahaha, what the hell, who changed the thread title?

pepsilol · 26 Jul 2015 at 17:27

Conscript said:
Isn't the whole point of a private plate to show off to other people who are, on the whole, strangers? Presumably there's not much point if no one can understand it without explanation.

What is this rubbish you are talking?

a lot of private plates (decent ones) have significant meaning to only the plate holder.

Conscript · 26 Jul 2015 at 17:39

pepsilol said:
What is this rubbish you are talking?

a lot of private plates (decent ones) have significant meaning to only the plate holder.

Stoofa was talking specifically about his opinion on what constitutes a plate that looks good, so from the perspective of a third party. In that context, he's right, something that requires explanation does seem a bit pointless.

You challenged him on the explanation point but I too thought that most private plates were bought with the aim of having meaning to strangers. I wasn't "talking rubbish", I was simply asking a question, no need for the usual haughty response.

rare · 26 Jul 2015 at 19:34

I know someone who got caught out for this, cost them a lot of aggravation from the police.

If you are going to do it, do it properly, or don't bother. If you do mess around with the plate,and later get caught out, don't expect any sympathy!

Uncle_Gravy · 26 Jul 2015 at 19:44

loltim said:
Why?

So I have a plate that says GRAVY? I dunno you tell me why I would want a registration plate saying GRAVY.

stoofa · 26 Jul 2015 at 23:50

If I see a plate JBV1 it means nothing to me - but it also doesn't require any explanation. Almost certainly initials of some kind.
If I see BO55 HOG I know what the plate is trying to say to me.
If however I see PR5 5 RAT then I know it's been mis-spaced, it means nothing to me and the owner would need to explain it to me.
Might as well have left it legal at PR55 RAT - if it needs an explanation what good is it?
The best plate I saw (and this is just my opinion of course) was:
B16 CAT

No mis-spacing, no illegal fonts, no bolts in the wrong place. Just printed as it should have been and would have been at any motor factors and attached to a nice powerful looking Jaguar.
No explanation and most importantly - no trying to be clever with fonts etc.

Skeeter · 26 Jul 2015 at 23:59

agnes said:
Hahahaha, what the hell, who changed the thread title?

Mod of win

Akagi · 27 Jul 2015 at 00:12

Nice mod edit.

See, you guys can be cool sometimes...

markweatherill · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:47

Armageus said:
No they aren't - we have a relatively cheap ANPR system at work ~4 Years old (and technology has moved on a lot), and it doesn't do anything particularly clever other than pick up almost any writing that passes by - whether it actually recognises the plate, or needs manual review of the photo is another matter - but don't think you are immune.

The crazy thing is, I knew that all along!

iaind · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:54

The thing about ANPR is that in the instances you *want* it to work, manual review isn't exactly going to cut it. Like I said above, if your car gets stolen, you want it to be flagged automatically as stolen when a traffic police car drives past it. I'm sure it would still work if the plate is AA 03 AAA, but if if you've got AA0Є AAA then I'm not sure it's going to do you much good!

CaptainRAVE · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:57

I thought changing the spacing was illegal, but I see it everywhere now...so it can't be enforced that much? I also see plenty of slogans under plates which is also illegal, even with well known motorists like Shmee.

Then again, I do have 3D carbon lettering, but I stopped short at having AMG written underneath

Fr0dders · 27 Jul 2015 at 10:12

CaptainRAVE said:
I thought changing the spacing was illegal, but I see it everywhere now...so it can't be enforced that much? I also see plenty of slogans under plates which is also illegal, even with well known motorists like Shmee.

Then again, I do have 3D carbon lettering, but I stopped short at having AMG written underneath

You thought right.

You'll find that people won't keep them forever. They'll get stopped eventually, even if they pass a few officers who decide they can't be bothered to stop.

All it takes is one to stop to get the marker on your car, then any police car passing by gets the on board ANPR reader flash up that you've already been warned once about the illegal plate, and they are much more likely to put in the second stop if they see you're still running the illegal plate.