Number plate mistakes which could see you fined £1,000 as change kicks in today
New number plates for UK vehicles are being released this month - but many drivers may be unaware that your number plate must meet certain criteria, or you could risk a £1,000 fine.
Since 2001, number plates have been based on a system which displays information about your car. The first two letters show where the car was first registered and the second two digits identify the car's age. These numbers change in March and September with cars registered between March and August having the year of registration, so in 2023 it would be 23.
Cars registered between September and February would have the year plus 50, so in September 2023, it would be 73. From March 1, all new vehicles will feature a 24 registration plate and 74 number plates will follow for vehicles registered between September 2024 and the end of February 2025.
The other three letters on a number plate are randomly generated and serve as the "unique identifier" for the vehicle. These three letters can be any combination of letters - excluding the letters "I" and "O" to avoid confusion with the numbers 1 and 0.
According to the temporary car insurance provider Cuvva, there are several number plate rules to follow, including specific fonts, font sizes, colours, and placements. You could be fined up to £1,000 and your car will fail its MOT if you don’t display your number plate correctly.
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Cuvva says that standard number plates in the UK must be made from a reflective material and have no background patterns. It should have black characters on a white background at the front of the car and black characters on a yellow background at the rear. This is to ensure they can be seen by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras.
Alongside this characters on a number plate must be the right size, height and be correctly spaced as specified by the Government. These rules tend to apply more to unofficial garages and people buying personalised number plates. Cuvva says the characters must be 79mm and 50mm wide, except the number 1 or letter I. While the thickness of characters must be 14mm, there must also be an 11mm space between characters on the number plate. The font used on number plates is the Charles Wright font. Licence plates can also have raised 3D characters and display certain symbols and flags, as well as a green flash if it is an electric car.
Darryl Bowman from Cuvva said “When it comes to number plate changes, there's always a rush for people to get their hands on the latest plate. But there are opportunities to score deals on slightly older cars with older plates. If you're contemplating selling your car, doing so before the new plates are released could net you a higher price. While if you're in the market to buy a new car, waiting for the new plates may result in a better price, as the current ones become one plate older."
Alongside having the correct number plate, drivers should also make sure that their number plates are clean and legible - for example, the licence plate cannot be covered in mud. Cuvva says this is not "explicitly defined" as a driving law if an ANPR camera cannot read your plate you could be fined up to £1,000 and face three penalty points.
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