Driving along minding my own business in Ayr earlier this afternoon I got pulled over for a roadside check by Strathclyde Police who had set up a little check point along Whitletts road. I knew all my tyres,lights etc were all fine so had no problem pulling in.

Unfortunately the officer who directed me didn`t seem to be in the best of fettle as straight away he seemed to have made his mind up that I was the scum of the earth and accused me of trying to hide my numberplate by driving too close to the car in front of me . This kinda pi$$ed me off due to the fact that the shitty Fiesta in front was being told to pull in then it was flagged on to move on to another space then stopped again and not once was I thinking about "hiding" my plates (especially when I`ve had a couple of Policemen ask me about the car and never once mention my numberplates ).

Anyway,I got pulled in and they had look around the car asking me to apply the handbrake and stuff. They seemed to take a while looking at my front sidelights and I heard them say that they didn`t look bright enough (maybe that`s because the sun was shining directly at the car and I think they thought my fog lights were supposed to be the sidelights ).

Thankfully the police officer that issued my ticket was a better mood,probably because I was polite and not argumentative which is the only way to behave IMO as the officer is only doing his job and I was rightly caught displaying illegal numberplates,although I didn`t think they were that bad .

So all in all I got away with a £30 fine,the officer said it could have been £60 seeing as it was both plates but I guess "keeping the heid" saved me from that .

Baz

I`m still pi$$ed off at the way that first policeman spoke to me though .

No sliding scale unfortunately - it's either legal or illegal




Unfortunately there can be bad grapes in any bunch - you did the right thing by keeping your head and being polite - I applaud your restraint as most people just manage to talk their way into even more trouble (which is undoubtedly what some of them are looking for)

Yeah I know there are some good eggs out there .

Baz

tut tut baz

Lol,I feckin spent a good 45mins trying to get the numberplate off my old bumper in one piece too . I`m glad I just screwed it onto my new bumper,not looking forward to trying to get the back one off now .

Baz

Seems a bit of a jobs worth. its not like the plates are ultra small are twisted into a word etc.

spot checks like that do the police no favours whatsoever.

I think what a lot of people forget is that it's not the actual crime of having an illegal numberplate per se but rather what it means in the greater scheme. If people are willing to obscure their number plate in order to not be detected by ANPR cameras - they probably have a reason? You will soon be complaining if your car gets stolen but the police cannot pick it up on ANPR and therefore can't catch whoever stole it.

How hard is it really to have a legal plate?

you know, that's a real good point, there ugaly as sin, but a necessity

Baz plates were not obscured. And if this aprn thingymabob couldn't pick that plate out then someone in the aprn decission making department needs a good kick in his whatyamacallems. also car theft...if the theives are worried about it, they'll switch plates with nice legal fomat plates or stick the vehilcle inside a lorry, or trailer and cover it.

Nope police faffing about with numberplates is on the whole a complete waste of time. Unless its so small or so bastardised it cant be read they should feck off and go concentrate on something that might have a real impact on society.

Baz Baz Baz

Is it the spacing or the lettering that's illegal??

Don't really mind that much getting pulled when the officer has a really bad attitude to me as he has all that power...don't mind at all Why cant they all be like steamer

Your always going to have some GOOD grapes in a bloody family pack with 50% extra free.

Anyway Baz you car is looking tops matey

Realy and which force do you work for, There is a standard for number plates for a reason, and if you don't know or understand the reason don't comment.

Cheers Sparky . It was the size of the lettering than I got done for,I think personally that it was just down to the grumpy policeman hoping to get a young guy in a fancy car a few points on their license .

Like I said before though i`m not annoyed at being pulled over I just hate the fact that the policeman can get away with talking to me like that. I did think about saying to the more friendlier policemen who were issuing me with the ticket that I didn`t appreciate being tarred with the Max Power brush by their colleague but then thought I better just stay on the safe side.

Baz

The size and spacing of number plate characters is specified in the regulations, as follows:

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

Its always worth checking that they havn't made a mistake

Well he was out with a wee ruler to check the sizing .

I`m gonna get some new plates made up similar style but with the correct UK font seeing as that was the only problem they mentioned about the plates.

Baz

On the topic of numberplates, my car came with plates with wee england flags on them. (A useful point in negotiating the price down!).
I've got squeaky clean new plates with no flags, but the old plates seem affixed with kyrptonite or summat.

Any top tips for removing them?
Just stuck on, no screws or anything.

sorry, now you need to work for the police to comment on them do you ???? maybe I'll stop voting, I dont work in politics. or maybe I'll stop commenting on rubbish meals in restaurants as i'm not a chef.

Or maybe you want to explain the vital importance of having every plate standardised and see if you can persuade me my view that the police are wasting public money and faffing about over the fact someone might have a flag on their number plate or that the lettering isn't a standard font.

Or maybe the reason for standardised plates is so piss poor you feel safer trying to dismiss me rather than my opinion, by asking me not to comment, instead of putting forward the 'reason' its so important

TBH ..i think its just a grumpy policeman trying to find fault on a sporty car. Some descretion should be practised as the fonts are not even that hard to read. I've seen far worse fonts on cars before.

Well it could have something to do with not being compliant with the current law, and thus illegal

Are you trying to suggest that some laws are more important than others, or indeed that the Police should just overlook some law breaking?

What a great idea, although I am tempted to think that you might not have thought this through. The main flaw is in perception of how bad the crime is.
You know when you see those fellows on TV, caught at well over the drink drive limit? They too think they have done nothing wrong and wish the police would go and chase burgulars, bank robbers and murderers. I bet some theives think similar thoughts too.

Perhaps you should take a leaf out of Baz's book. He has been caught, has acepted he was in the wrong, accepted his punishment and is now going to rectify the situation. Well done Baz, a true gent

Well said Bob

Baz Baz Baz, you really are a hardened crim!

Of course some laws are more important than others!

Of course the Police should just overlook some law breaking. A good Policeman (and there are many) is not a robot, and knows when someone is behaving in a way likely to cause harm, and when they are not.

It's also fair to be annoyed when Police time is spent catching people technically infringing some laws, rather than trying to deter flagrant infringement of others. I know that a lot of Police officers feel this way too.

That's not to say you shouldn't be respectful even if they're being a tool.

I would just like to know how many times they asked him to repeat what he was saying

Don't really have much respect for some of the police around here im afraid, just my experience, but I respect the law and that's enough, usually.

Ryan

My own experience has been good TBH. Even when I was in trouble (many years ago) they were helpful, and kind. If however you find yourself being chased by a police dog, don't run over a see-saw, slalom through a line of poles, run under a long tarpulin and jump through a hoop of fire, as they are trained for that.

Although most of us on here understand the law and stick to it, and without been rude, i may able to explain a few reasons to why cops do what they do.
First off, although you think that Bazers number plate was not that bad, ie easy to read, a camera cannot read it, this in turn could lead to some of the following.
Your car not been found when stolen, you not been picked up by speed cameras or red light cameras, this you may think is a good thing, but think off this, who else would like to drive round not been picked up on ANPR, yes Burglers, robbers, car thieves,murders ect ect.
Hence the reason why if every one has legal plates on, plods job would be easier.
And just to squash the old saying of "why don't you go catch burglers in stead of stopping me" The cop who stops you for this kind of thing is usually a trafic cop, hence he deals with traffic offences, not murders.
Burglers are dealt with by, burglary teams, murders by yes you guessed it murder teams and so on.
And just remember if you do get a cop with a bad attitude all complaints get dealt with, so make one.

For general information tests of this type are carried out under the provisions of section 67 of the Road Traffic Act and it's worth knowing about paragraphs (7) and (8) of this section, which say that unless the vehicle has been in an accident or, "Where in the opinion of a constable the vehicle is apparently so defective that it ought not to be allowed to proceed without a test being carried out" you can, as the owner, nominate to defer the test to a place of your choosing and a week for the inspection, within 30 days of the time you were stopped (these requirements are laid out in Schedule II of the RTA).

So, basically, unless there is something obviously wrong with the car, subject to a visual inspection, the police have no power to force you to submit to whatever tests they can think up for lights, handbrakes, etc.

I suspect that a lot of coppers (especially non-traffic ones) don't know this, so if you fancy a good argument by the roadside be sure to mention this to them.

"Twa" times

Sorry, but I don't believe that is a universal truth.

Firstly, if ANPR could only read a properly-spaced, correct-font numberplate, then it would be about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike, rather than the crime-busting panacea which it's currently seen to be.

Secondly, on one of the millions of BiB programmes on the TV a month or so back, a lady from Essex in her pink Smart had weird, bizarre plates in a strange font, and when they followed her, their ANPR was able to read it and advise the BiB that she had already been pulled for it.

Thirdly, the ANPR used for the London Congestion Charge is more than capable of detecting into London by a car bearing a (slightly) illegally spaced plate and remind the driver that he forgot to pay the £8 which has now gone up to £60.

Sure, some plates are almost illegible to the naked eye, let alone a machine, and sure, there's no grey area, a plate is either legal or not, but a little discretion would never go amiss, i.e.

- the plate's slightly out of whack = "suggest you get that sorted, sir", or

- the plate's unreadable = "you're nicked, sonny".

And finally, crashingly boring, tedious and predictable though it may be, if they have enought time on their hands to be fiddling around with petty, victimless trivia like this, etc etc etc.......

Cappo if i recall the lady nwith the smart car correctly, the ANPR could not rean it and it was the lady herself who owned up to have been given a warning already, hence the cop said since you have already had a warning i have to give you a ticke.
The reason why your VRM is readable is because the letters are of the right size, until you use ANPR you don't realise what it can read or misread.
The problem that Baz had was that he got caught in an inforcement trap, these are done with a no grey are so to speak, if it aint legal you get a ticket, and not just pulled by a cop with nothing else to do.

I'm not trying to suggest some laws are more important than others bob, though clearly some are. What I'm looking for is a sound reason why this particular law is required at all.

Lets see cannabis is illegal yet many forces for many years now have not been prosecuting over small amounts...simple cautions have been dished out....so hmmmm which law do you see as a greater threat to society, the use of illegal drugs or a nice stylish numberplate???

I did get stopped on my bike by a joint police/road services checkpoint. Lets see was blatantly over the speed limit, my numberplate was illegal, my exhaust was race use only and one of the loudest on the market and i had no reflector on the rear of the bike. I was polite and friendly and took the bike to my local police station later that day with all illegal elements resolved.

Still think its a complete waste of police time though.

Anyway back to your one law being more important than another...shall we revisit the cannabis scenario above???