German Plates Crackdown

[Guest]

Rob_B, The laws pick on the people at the bottom doing little things wrong... We are all criminals

[Rob_B 0]

couldnt agree more buddy!!

its because we will pay the fines and stop when asked to. you dont see mr burglar stopping when pc plod tells him too. but to be fair, mr burglar wouldnt get asked to stop because the law would never get there in time, if at all, to catch said burglar!!

anyhow, back to number plates....

[davidwatsonok 0]

In case you guys are interested, there's several debates going on over on Scoobynet regarding number plates, ANPR, RFID, ISA etc.

 

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=479361

 

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=478809

 

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=471241

 

...but the basis for these discussions are the following articles....

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/15 ... _database/

 

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transp ... 334686.ece

 

http://www.pito.org.uk/what_we_do/ident ... n/anpr.htm

 

I have written to my MP, who duly wrote to the Home Secretary whom replied with the run of the mill anti terrorism/crime reduction justification. I am currently formulating my response, but in the meantime I urge every free individual, motorist or not, to oppose this infringement on the freedom to travel within this society.

[PiercedWinky 0]

The whole bit about anti-terrorism sounds almost like a George Bush thing... We have the same problem on this side of the pond with German style plates. The cops go nuts about having them anywhere on the car and ask too many questions. It all gives me a headache.

[NickVR6 0]

Its obvious why the classic car fraternity get special rights and modded dub owners don't. Just think about how many coppers and MPs run classic cars and how many run raddos etc.......there you go!

 

Same as pot holes and sorting the roads out in this country. Apparantly its because there not too bad, yeah well, they dont feel that bad sat in the back of a 3 ton double galazed soggy a..ed jag with someone else getting the steering feedback (if there is any).

 

All these issues are about money at the end of the day, cameras cant see you, loss of money to them. Plates slightly wrong, easy prey.fine. Speed cameras dont pay for themselves to be put up you know............mmmm, actually, perhaps they do! GB = LOL, your better off being a rapist than a speeder in this country. "PETTY b...ocks all of it imo

[Blinky16v 0]

This is about money and monitoring, nothing else. The Police will continue to fall down the slippy slope of becoming tax collectors and ultimately lose respect from the public, this will in turn ensight more criminals to go out and do their thing because the Police will not be geared up to handle them, the CPS are already a total waste of time unable to judge even the most clear case. Councils will continue to waste money and make everyones lives miserable when they make errors, which is frequently.

 

This has been going for years and it'll get worse, I've lost respect for the Police and a majority of the law which is sad, I'm a hard working tax payer who causes no proble... no wait a minute I am a criminal!! I went 81 mph on the motorway the other day to avoid a Granny swerving down the M40 at about 60 mph because she could not see the steering wheel!!

 

Yeah I know off topic slightly but this country has th potential to be great, it just takes a few paper pushers and liars to screw it up for everyone, its depressing.

[Yandards 0]

Adding an element of furthur distrust I think this has as much to do with criminals as it does with an ability to collect congestion charges.

 

If it was common knowledge that by using a foreign plate it will dodge congestion charges, more people would fit them. I know that congestion charging is only effective in London at the moment but they do plan to roll the scheme out to other major cities. On top of that there is always the looming prospect of more toll roads etc.

 

As a side note does anyone who has noticed the recent 'upgrading' of the countries motorway network with more of those information boards; think that there is way more fibre optic cable being laid than is needed for a pretty basic dot sign? Just what are they going to do with all the extra bandwidth?

[bcstudent 0]

Talking of those motorway information boards...

 

On the return trip from the Isle of Man last year I noticed that one of the character blocks of the signs flashed on and off if approached above the speed limit. At first I though it was a coincidence but I tested the theory with at least half a dozen other signs both above and below the limit with the same result. None of the signs were showing any information and appeared to be switched off.

 

What's that all about?!

[Charleyvr6 0]

Just to comment on Jeremy's post, my number plate (N13VRG) is almost ienticle to yours and I got a £30 fine whilst parked up in Tonbridge in the same week as some naughty people stole over £50,000,00 from a securitas depot not half a mile from where I was. The humourless git who fined me didn't share my mirth at the irony. I have since gone back to legal plates for daily use but forgot to change them back after attending the CCGB AGM yesterday and travelled along the M42, so no doubt I'll get a letter from the DVLA for using illegal plates which will be another huge irony since if my plates are illegible, how will they know where to send the fine ??????. I did contact the DVLA recently to ask for clarification as to what "not significantly different" actually meant, as an example we humans share 99% of the same DNA as a cabbage so you could argue we are "not significantly different". I also asked for details of the law on spacing/ fonts as it stood in 1995 (the year of manufacture of my C) since it hardly seems fair to expect every motorist to update their number plates to current spec. The DVLA were hugely helpful by way of giving me a hyperlink to their website which contains absolutely NONE of the information I requested.

Charley.

[Yandards 0]

Just to comment on Jeremy's post, my number plate (N13VRG) is almost ienticle to yours and I got a £30 fine whilst parked up in Tonbridge in the same week as some naughty people stole over £50,000,00 from a securitas depot not half a mile from where I was. The humourless git who fined me didn't share my mirth at the irony. I have since gone back to legal plates for daily use but forgot to change them back after attending the CCGB AGM yesterday and travelled along the M42, so no doubt I'll get a letter from the DVLA for using illegal plates which will be another huge irony since if my plates are illegible, how will they know where to send the fine ??????. I did contact the DVLA recently to ask for clarification as to what "not significantly different" actually meant, as an example we humans share 99% of the same DNA as a cabbage so you could argue we are "not significantly different". I also asked for details of the law on spacing/ fonts as it stood in 1995 (the year of manufacture of my C) since it hardly seems fair to expect every motorist to update their number plates to current spec. The DVLA were hugely helpful by way of giving me a hyperlink to their website which contains absolutely NONE of the information I requested.

Charley.

 

I think MM covered much of this earlier on in the thread. The basic argument being that if we are all in the EU and the EU has a number plate directive which the BS(British Standard) derives from how can german plate be illegal?

[corozin 0]

At risk of killing the thread, read this : http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2001/20010561.htm#6

 

If your car's registered in the UK and the plate doesn't agree with this, you're illegal. It's as simple as that.

[**stan** 0]

the CPS are already a total waste of time unable to judge even the most clear case.

 

I hate to be pedantic, but it's not up to the CPS to judge anything. That's for the judges. The CPS are merely a bunch of solictors who prosecute a case, in esscence they are no different to the shysters who defend you, when before the beak.

[Musicman 0]

I did contact the DVLA recently to ask for clarification as to what "not significantly different" actually meant, as an example we humans share 99% of the same DNA as a cabbage so you could argue we are "not significantly different". I also asked for details of the law on spacing/ fonts as it stood in 1995 (the year of manufacture of my C) since it hardly seems fair to expect every motorist to update their number plates to current spec. The DVLA were hugely helpful by way of giving me a hyperlink to their website which contains absolutely NONE of the information I requested.

 

The 2001 Statutory Instrument is the document to which they should have referred you, as it defines what constitutes 'substantially different'

 

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2001/20010561.htm#15

 

(a) in italic script,

 

(b) using a font, other than italic script, in which the characters are not vertical,

 

© using a font in which the curvature or alignment of the lines of the stroke is substantially different from the prescribed font,

 

(d) using multiple strokes,

 

(e) using a broken stroke,

 

(f) in such a way as to make a character or more than one character appear like a different character or characters.

 

The digits on my 1990 Scirocco aren't in the current mandatory font, but they're legal in those terms for a vehicle registered before 2001, unless and until I fit some new plates.

 

@ corozin: my point is that there's some ambiguity in the current legislation over the interpretation of 'other qualities' in the alternate specifications (see my post on page 5). It begs the question why that part of the legislation exists at all.

 

@ stan: Fixed Penalty Notices neatly avoid the messy business of a CPS decision to prosecute and time and money in court. For the public, it's a way of avoiding a criminal conviction, I believe FPNs are technically civil instruments much like ASBOs.

[Charleyvr6 0]

a) in italic script,

 

(b) using a font, "other than italic script" (which is illegal given the previous statement ), in which the characters are not vertical.

 

 

That is two apparently conflicting statements

 

An oxymoron??

 

"VR6" anybody ??????????

 

"V in line"

 

only scholars need reply!!!!!

 

Thanks for the link,

 

I'll print it and keep it in the car ..........t

there's not a court in the land that'll convict me.............nor understand ????????

Charley.

[Musicman 0]

Those are 'or' statements, not 'and' statements. Fail any one of them, and you're out of line.

 

If they've taken the advice of typographers, they used that wording to distinguish between proper Italic script, Oblique typefaces and others which are also not vertical.

 

Italic: slopes bottom left to top right. The letters are designed to the correct proportions at an angle. Technically, the use of the word 'script' also means that it's a cursive form.

 

 

Oblique: the letters slope consistently either bottom left to top right (forward) or bottom right to top left (backward).

 

Oblique characters are often automatically derived from upright characters and aren't specifically designed to be rendered in a sloping manner.

 

Random slope (extreme example below)

 

[Ryan S 0]

As for the 1974 date you will be required to have yellow/white plates as that was around the year the plates were brought in and made a legal requirement, although according to campaign's earlier post you would be entitled to use the raised 3d letters that were popular back then.

 

I fell foul of this (running black/silver plates) with the rocco recently. The Policeman told me why he had stopped me, and I was polite in answering all of his questions. He said that he would deal with the offence by being as lenient as he could be - £30 fine (I was thinking more along the lines of a telling off and making me swap them asap) I swapped them on the spot as it happened...

 

Now I can sort of understand the German plate debate - Badges/Umluats (sp?)/broken characters and such like - but these plates are still legal on UK vehicles, and you can get new ones to re-fit on those vehicles, they are clear and easy to read (he took my reg and gave it to his buddy to check out my address (good job I was straight with him!) - so - WHAT'S THE FECKIN' PROBLEM?????

 

I don't have a problem with the man on the ground - although he overtook 3 cars, then cut me up, and put his blue lights on 1/2 mile later to signal me to stop (he was keen). I just want to know the reasoning behind it. Why is it so bad for me to put these plates on my car, when an AC Cobra (Almost as fast as my rocco :tongue: ) can legally wear them?

 

Oh - and they're attached with Velcro - is that illegal too? :cuckoo: