E30 Zone

I've just found the perfect plate for me, it's E3 OPG, or E30 PG, if I moved the O, would the police be constantly pulling me over?

Is there a penalty for changing the spacing?

i see it all the time,i think it's a gauntlet regards the plod.

Ditto. Thinking of getting me E3OPM, but its nearly the cost of a new hood @ £465.

If you have the 'show plates' made up to read E3OPM with no spaces,plod will find it difficult to obtain a conviction.

Good to know that, ta, but still dont know if I can justify the cost, over keeping dry.

Plod find number plates the perfect excuse to pull you over, I am forever getting stopped on my motorbike

You must be aware it's the size of a postage stamp though lol and the last copper that pulled me over got out his car and the first thing he said was:

Copper: "why have I pulled you over"
Me: "number plate"
Copper "yes because your taking the p*ss"

I think if you keep it as subtle as poss you may be ok but it depends on the copper and his mood as my old man was done in north wales for "illegal spacing" and to be honest it was very harsh. They also used it as an excuse to check his tyres, documents, what he was doing where he was going.... just a jobsworth with nothing to do

I've never been pulled an when i did have a copper come over, all he did was coment on the car

You run the risk of £60 fine if they decide to pull you over, but I've seen so many altered plates so they can't care that much...

I reckon spacing it "E3OPG" as opposed to "E3O PG" would be less likely to attract attention. Both dodgy, but the latter is a bit of a piss take. A neighbour of mine was denied an MoT with a plate with no space in it, but I suppose it's always best to have some "correct" plates knocking about for that sort of reason. You do see all sorts out on the road though, so best guess is to just suck it and see - if you get pulled, play dumb and try to get off with just an order to replace the plates rather than a prosecution.

And obviously, don't drive around with a million decibel exhaust, bald tyres and out of date tax all at the same time!

I want E30 BSS but i would settle for E3 OBS and space it E3O BS. I have a current MOT testers smart card (even though i only do one or two tests a month) and if i tested a car with plates spaced like that i would fail it.

I have only failed two cars on plates in the 1 year ive been testing. One was for a plate that was so badly delaminated you could barely read it and the other was for characters that were not the correct font.

plates for mot and plod you keep in the boot if not "strictly" legal.

I had C11 CNT spaced C11CNT and I got pulled constantly and fined £30 twice with the threat of DVLA confiscating the number.

I would do it until you get pulled up, then just except that you have to have legal plates!

Just my opinion of course.

bss325i wrote:I want E30 BSS but i would settle for E3 OBS and space it E3O BS. I have a current MOT testers smart card (even though i only do one or two tests a month) and if i tested a car with plates spaced like that i would fail it.

I have only failed two cars on plates in the 1 year ive been testing. One was for a plate that was so badly delaminated you could barely read it and the other was for characters that were not the correct font.

Seems as if the '30' numbers are being held back for some reason,I would like E30 MMW!
I was pleased,however,to discover that J11NES has long gone,as has E30JW....
Currently torn between E30MW and E30JM for the cabbie...

Anyone know exactly what the spacing has to be on these 'short' plates to be legal. I can find the rules for 'standard' plates of both the old and new type, but can't find anything definitive for plates with only five characters.
I see them on the road with everything from spaced right out and filling the whole plate, through two distinct groups with a massive gap between them, to closed right up in the centre of the plate.

Brianmoooore wrote:Anyone know exactly what the spacing has to be on these 'short' plates to be legal. I can find the rules for 'standard' plates of both the old and new type, but can't find anything definitive for plates with only five characters.
I see them on the road with everything from spaced right out and filling the whole plate, through two distinct groups with a massive gap between them, to closed right up in the centre of the plate.

Here you are Brian.....

Each character must be 79mm high and 50mm wide (except the number 1 or the letter I). The width of each character stroke must be 14mm. There must be a space of 11mm between characters within the same group, and character groups must be 33mm apart. For the purposes of measurement, each character (again, excepting the number 1 or the letter I), regardless of its shape, is treated as a rectangular block of dimensions 79mm x 50mm

IIRC (although I can't find it in the regs) outer edges of the two groups of characters have to be equidistant from the edges of the plates, irrespective of how many characters there are in each group.

Thanks for the reply, but that's not quite what I meant to ask!
Those are the current regs, for plates made up now. There's no obligation to replace plates that were legal at the time they were made, so does anyone know what the regs were a) when E30's were in production, and b), what they were when the new font and the EU flag were introduced?

i was followed by a trafick plod on my way to college @ the age of 17 on a 350 ypvs.
it had a cut down plate of course.

he did get his rule book out accompanied by a tape measure,all well and dandy he thought until my lecturer came out of the class i'd been made late for and told him i was on private land .

plod fecked off with the hump

i changed the plate from a car type one back to a legal bike one that looked gay.it might as well had an L plate stuck on

Plates have to be legal for the time the car was registered.

So the black plates with silver letters are still legal on cars pre 72 but not so on a car registered since then.

The regulations for 1983-1991 are the same as any car registered from 73 -2001
http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m3s06000301.htm

The new laws are in addition to the old laws. So the newer (narrower) font is legal for all cars. As is the EU country logos. So you can have those plates on any age car and be fine.

magpie wrote:
i changed the plate from a car type one back to a legal bike one that looked gay.it might as well had an L plate stuck on

Yeah, bike plates look terrible with huge (standard) plates they should be made smaller... I've got an Aprilia RSV Mille and its a lovely bike, ruined by an advertising board on the back (on MOT day only lol)

Rich_W wrote:Plates have to be legal for the time the car was registered.

So the black plates with silver letters are still legal on cars pre 72 but not so on a car registered since then.

The regulations for 1983-1991 are the same as any car registered from 73 -2001
http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m3s06000301.htm

The new laws are in addition to the old laws. So the newer (narrower) font is legal for all cars. As is the EU country logos. So you can have those plates on any age car and be fine.

Link doesn't work!

magpie wrote:i was followed by a trafick plod on my way to college @ the age of 17 on a 350 ypvs.

F1 or F2?

Duke137 wrote:

magpie wrote:
i changed the plate from a car type one back to a legal bike one that looked gay.it might as well had an L plate stuck on

Yeah, bike plates look terrible with huge (standard) plates they should be made smaller... I've got an Aprilia RSV Mille and its a lovely bike, ruined by an advertising board on the back (on MOT day only lol)

pass your test dude.big bikes are a rush.

e30topless wrote:

magpie wrote:i was followed by a trafick plod on my way to college @ the age of 17 on a 350 ypvs.

F1 or F2?

F2 steve in Marlborough blinding orange.

my old wheelie machine

PG325 wrote:I've just found the perfect plate for me, it's E3 OPG, or E30 PG, if I moved the O, would the police be constantly pulling me over?

Don't suppose you have a middle name starting with the letter "D"?

My touring, with the reg "PDG **W" will be up for sale soon

grantfk10 wrote:

PG325 wrote:I've just found the perfect plate for me, it's E3 OPG, or E30 PG, if I moved the O, would the police be constantly pulling me over?

Don't suppose you have a middle name starting with the letter "D"?

My touring, with the reg "PDG **W" will be up for sale soon

No it's PMG

Brianmoooore wrote:Thanks for the reply, but that's not quite what I meant to ask!
Those are the current regs, for plates made up now. There's no obligation to replace plates that were legal at the time they were made, so does anyone know what the regs were a) when E30's were in production, and b), what they were when the new font and the EU flag were introduced?

As far as I can remember from my number plate making/supplying days the regs were the same from 1973 until the font was changed, except that the EU flag - or any other - wasn't legal. The old style font was essentially the same as the current one, but the characters fitted in a block 79mm x 57mm.
In a nutshell, the font was made narrower to allow the flag (which also has to be a specific maximum width) to fit and still allow the correct minimum white or yellow border. Plate size and character spacing stayed the same.
The current regs have been in place since September 2001, which was when the flags became legal and it became a requirement rather than an option to display the details of the plate supplier.

jay1980 wrote:I had C11 CNT spaced C11CNT and I got pulled constantly and fined £30 twice with the threat of DVLA confiscating the number.

I would do it until you get pulled up, then just except that you have to have legal plates!

Just my opinion of course.

i wanted to buy that have you still got it ?.

i have G8 KOS, there is and extra space between the 8 anf the K and the 8 just happens to have screw in it making it look like an 0, not had any bother and the police will be very very bored to pull you for it, but it will be an excuse to go over your car properly, or they simply do not like the look of you.


as long as its not too badly spaced, and in the correct font you should be ok

Yes mate still got it, its going retention at the minute.

jay1980 wrote:Yes mate still got it, its going retention at the minute.

what did u want for it?

jay1980 wrote:I had C11 CNT spaced C11CNT and I got pulled constantly and fined £30 twice with the threat of DVLA confiscating the number.

I would do it until you get pulled up, then just except that you have to have legal plates!

Just my opinion of course.

i loved that plate wen i owned it once upon a time...
whatever happend to the touring in the end?