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My only advisory on my MOT last month was that I had that black stuff growing behind my back plate, so I'm going to use this as a good excuse to get pressed plates.

Only thing is I can't decide which style to go for and I'm not entirely sure which are illegal.

I'd love black plate and silver writing but I'm fairly sure these are illegal for modern cars (anything after 1970ish)

I know german plates are illegal but some get away with it, knowing my luck I wouldn't so I was thinking about possibly getting uk font pressed plates. Not sure if I'd want the GB banding or if you have to have the banding or not.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Pressed plates are illegal whatever font Bryony. I have German font and *touch wood* never had a problem.

I think English font would look good and wouldn't draw too much attention to themselves, i do however keep my old plastic plates in the boot.

i have the pressed german font unbanded plates and had no trouble
but i do keep my legal ones in my boot

Looks like that might be the way to go then, I didn't realise all presed plates were illegal - thought it was just because the german font is different spacing. Oh well, I'll just have to be illegal whichever i choose.

Black plates are a surefire way to draw unnecessary attention from people like me. German ones aren't so bad, as long as they aren't adorned with the little stickers that go on real german ones. I had them on the S2 for 6 months and not a problem, went through the MOT with them on, and also went to Sutton Road a few times...

From what I understand the pressed UK standard plates are acceptable as long as they are to the UK font and spacing and reflective. I can't find any reference to them not being allowed on PNLD or in Blackstones.

(Obviously I am merely speculating and giving a personal opinion)

The main reason the police are so hot on non-standard registration plates is the fact that the awful chavvy font ones cause problems to the ANPR readers. More and more cars are fitted with mobile ANPR reading equipment, and the moment a car with an unreadable plate is seen by the software it triggers a warning. If you don't want hassle from the law then it's about being sensible and not drawing attention to yourself.

Thanks for the useful info!

TBH altho black plates look nice, I wasn't really considering them as I know I'd keep getting pulled. I'm probably going to go down the pressed plates, uk font road.

As Said, if it's pressed they are not illiegal, The only illeagal thing bout them are the D Band, As you are only aloud the Euro Flag or UK band, Also as long as they are Clear i have never had trouble, and i work at A Scottish Police HQ, Also the ones of Dubmiester are reflective !

I've only been pulled once for mine, and I drive mine around the country alot.

I've had the german plates on for about 18 months.

It's only a £30 fine if you do get pulled, they can't give you points for it.

I've only had my D banded German plates on a month but drove past heaps of coppers and no trouble

To be honest, as long as they are clear and fully readable you shouldn't have too many problems, it is when you take the p*** the police tend to jump on these things, italic fonts, bubble writing, silver on black that sort of thing. German banded also tend to draw the wrong sort of attention, so I tend to either have GB or nothing at all.

I think i'm gonna go with no banding, nice and simple and uncluttered, and a bit different to the d banding.

Thats what i went for bryony. I dont even run a plate on the front anymore, keep it on the dash. Yeh, aslong as there reflective and of an easily readable font, you shouldnt have a problem.

Why dont you get silver and black plates for shows?? change them over etc

Probably will get some for shows when I've got some cash lying around. For now I'm going to sort out the normal pressed ones once i get paid.

i'm running pressed uk font plates and i've had no problems Bryony! i've also got black and silver plates for shows!

I have been using german style plates with the D band for the past two years and hane had no probs at all