German Plates

mwarner87 · Post by **mwarner87** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:35 pm

are these legal on the road?

what if i have a GB band on it?

cheers

elwarnio

Redline · Post by **Redline** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:41 pm

If you search you'll find quite a lot of information about the issues of German plates and their legality.

Based on the law as I see it, they are technically not legal for road use in the UK. People may argue otherwise, and that they have run them for "x amount of time" without being bothered by the police.

Even with a GB band there are still points about construction and how reflective a plate must be that the police or an MOT tester could still choose to deem it illegal.

JPR_polo_gti · Post by **JPR_polo_gti** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:03 pm

I passed my MOT with mine on

Tim_GTi · Post by **Tim_GTi** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:26 am

Unless you've got weird spacing, a rear white number plate, and any of the stickers(which are placed in the middle of the plate after the first 2 digits) you'll be fine. Cos in a sense all you have is uk a reg on a metal embossed plate!

i'm not stating any particular rule, its just my strong oppinion. I have german plates with the GB band on

nafeGTI · Post by **nafeGTI** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:37 pm

considering some of the plates i see people getting away with i think, i cant see there being much of a problem, although i would change to the originals for an MOT.

I've seen a few people run black and silver plates in Swindon, they look superb but dont know if they'll get away with them for long!

kriswithak · Post by **kriswithak** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:55 pm

Letter of the law is that they are illegal. Improper font and not a reflective surface material.

JPR_polo_gti · Post by **JPR_polo_gti** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:18 pm

mine are reflective and the font is hadly noticable..
I'll post a pic when I get the chance

kriswithak · Post by **kriswithak** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:15 pm

Unless they conform to BSAU145d they are illegal and carry a Â£30 non-endorsable fine.

Guide:

A - Euroflag Emblem
This is â€˜OPTIONALâ€™ and must be situated on the extreme left of the plate. This must show the 12 stars and the GB letters. For travellers in the European Union, the use of Euroflag plates on the rear of the vehicle may be used instead of the oval national identifier sticker.

B - Reflective
REFLECTIVE materials used must meet the requirements of BSAU 145d.

C - Borders
OPTIONAL BORDERS can be up to 6mm wide in any colour and should not be retroreflective

D - Personalisation
PERSONALISATION must include the name of the supplying outlet together with the postcode. This can be in any size but cannot exceed an area greater than 178mm x 13mm. Situated centrally at the base of the plate.

E - Digits
DIGITS must be in the prescribed font style which measures 79mm high x 50mm wide. Grey tone digit style can be used if the luminance factor is no greater than that given for black (which is <0.05)

F - British Standard Number
BRITISH STANDARD NUMBER and means of identification of component supplier to be contained in an area of 57mm x 13mm

nafeGTI · Post by **nafeGTI** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:31 pm

just how mine are at the mo but it makes you wonder how people from Germany etc can run those plates over here if we're not allowed, if it's for reasons such as cameras not being able to catch decent images (is that true??) then surely people from abroad should have to have reflective plates otherwise they could get away with speeding etc. i'm sure this discussion has been had a million times but just wondering what peoples thoughts about it are

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:41 pm

I can see exactly why the rules are there, because if you introduce any grey area at all then people will flaunt it and the cops will waste millions fighting pointless number plate cases.

Personally I think any european style should be valid. Mine are reflective but in the german font. In fact there is a sub section of one of the DVLA info sheets that mentions exemption for EEC regulation passing plates, but I still don't see that helping in the eyes of the law.

kriswithak · Post by **kriswithak** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:44 pm

The country of origin's version of Construction and Use would probably apply to the vehicle, as it would have passed a version of our MOT in the originating country.

As far as motorists from other countries being caught on camera speeding, they are ripped up, as the cost to persue motorists for offences is so prohibitive. Our legal system is somewhat to cock on this matter, if a British motorist speeds in France for instance, he would be forced to pay a fine at the roadside and wouldn't be able to set off until he had done so, whereas in the UK our Law does not allow this, so foreign drivers get away with it.

JPR_polo_gti · Post by **JPR_polo_gti** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:46 pm

I'm sure all newer european plates are reflective
mine conform to all that, exept maybe F, even the size of the lettering is right... only thing that is different is that they are pressed aluminium (there's no mention that it's not allowed) and that the font is slightly different but so slight it's hard to tell...I know some letters in the german font really stand out and are different but mine are all pretty similar to the original font.
I've been stopped quite a few times and put the car through the MOT and not once has the issue of the plates come up

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:48 pm

and there lies another huge debate!

I think we will eventually need a better fine system in place, because speeding is becoming so heavily policed and only the naive can think it will ever stop on motorways. fair enough on residential roads, but on motorways I think it's just got to go to a better fine system.

my mate has a greek licence, has been caught 3 times in the UK, lives in the UK, and the UK insurance doesn't know anything about it. pah.

ModifiedMadness · Post by **ModifiedMadness** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:57 pm

The thing that makes me laugh is, say the plate passes an MOT which shows the car to be road legal, all well and good.

But it doesn't conform to the standard set by Europe/DVLA so you can still be fined for it and told to change it.

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:58 pm

ModifiedMadness wrote:The thing that makes me laugh is, say the plate passes an MOT which shows the car to be road legal, all well and good.

But it doesn't conform to the standard set by Europe/DVLA so you can still be fined for it and told to change it.

and it's a double joke that it DOES meet the europe standard