Pressed metal number plates - legal?

[SDHA4SLine]

Been wanting to replace my number plates with pressed metal ones as imo they look better than plastic. I've been a little cautious as I read a lot of people have been pulled over by the rozzers for having illegal plates even though they carry all the necessary bs marks etc. Most threads ive read are pretty old and non really gave a solid answer if metal pressed plates are legal or not.

Does anyone know if this grey area has been cleared up yet and if so, what are the requirements to make them fully legal?

 

[Charlie Farley]

its a bit of a minefield steve, and very hard to get a deffinative answer from any gov dept, link below may help but its all down to how the regs are inturpretated.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/contents/made#10

i'd give them a miss just to be on the safe side.

 

[ajax1976]

All legal if font, spacing and manufacturers postcode are all present and correct. Ran them for 10years plus over my last 3 cars without any problems.

 

[Charlie Farley]

nope thats not enough mate, there are questions regarding the reflective part of pressed plates that come into play aswell, plates need to have the correct BS code that proves they have been VOSA tested

 

[Matt10160]

Ran them for 4 years on my previous csr, font spacing and bs code present. Never had any problems with mot's or being pulled.

 

[ajax1976]

Yeah, forgot to mention the BS marks as well. Not sure what the difference in the reflectiveness is as the surface area is the same. Loads of places selling them as being legal now tho so would assume unless companies are willing to be liable that they are.

 

[Charlie Farley]

I spent ages some time ago looking into this and the whole is subject a mishmash of contradictions to be honest, there are more outlet now than in the past and they all state legal plates but very few are and if it went to court a fair few would be found to be miselling plates , the specs for number plates are very clear , but some parts of those reg are very misleading or even vague making things a lot more complicated for the buyer.
plates need to pass a reflective test and a lot of pressed plates with just refective backing do not pass and are therefore illegal, but that whole reflective issue is also a very subjective one, anyway , you buys your plate and takes your chance.

 

[gary_a4_quattro]

A real grey area, as mentioned above. There seems to be little to endorse the legality of pressed plates, but equally, little to confirm illegality.

As motorists, we have a number of disparate bodies concerned with the conformance of number plates; the DVSA ( nee VOSA ) , MOT stations (who may choose to interpret the 'plate specifications differently) plus the ones we are most likely to come into contact with, where there is a 'dispute', as to the plates legality; the Police.

imho and with the balance of probabilities, it comes down to this; as long as your number plates comply with regard to size, spacing, font, background, appearance of BS mark (though if the document mention below is referenced, equivilant EEA standards are acceptable ?!? ) etc etc, then I would doubt there would ever be any issue.

The issue may arrise however, when an 'officer of the law' believes the pressed metal plates per se are illegal and slaps you with a fixed penalty notice and a £60 fine. It then fall down to you to reject the FPN and have your day in court to challenge otherwise ! .......... What ever happened to the premise of ' innocence until guilt proven ', or does that not apply to ones wallet !?!?

On hunting around, the only definitive confirmation of acceptability of pressed plates is for pre 1973 vehicle as described here:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/schedule/2/made
which, for later registered vehicles also references reflectivity both in 'retro' and 'reflex' forms

Good luck Steve which ever way you decide to go !!

 

[SDHA4SLine]

I think we can safely say that this is not sorted yet then!

 

[Clarity]

I did quite a bit of looking around and reading on this as wanted a set but not going to throw away money.

Basically it's a total grey area as others has said but all seems to be about the "must be made of reflective material" part. Some interperat this as meaning the backing must be made from a material that by its nature is reflective (which the metal isn't without the reflective film. Others see this as meaning the backing plate as a whole with the reflective film and metal plate as an assembled part being the backing material.

No one really knows, the agencies have never clarified and it's never been tested, as far as I know, in the courts.

After all the research though I ended up buying a set from Elite Car Care. They advertise as being 100% legal and comply with UK law. They have the correct spacing and fonts, have both their name/postcode as manufacturer and BSAU154d marks and they are registered with the dft as a licensed number plate manufacturer (they have to see proof of ownership before issuing).

They also say they have not had any negative feedback of Mot failures or prosecutions due to them and whilst people are not always truthful Elite have a very good reputation in detailing circles so belive have no reason to mislead people on this.

I've been extremely happy with them and not had any problems with mot or police and whilst being more expensive than others I am confident in these being as "legal" as possible in this grey area.

End of the day you take your chances. I love the look with the car and for the sake of £40 it's something I've done and not had any problems.

 

[DieselJake]

Had them on my cars for years.

Legal? Hard to say; if they're reflective, have correct lettering, spacing and markings then... well it's atleast nice to think so.

Will the police bother you? Been pulled plenty of times (young kid nice car) and only once had a police officer say "I could fine you for these plates" only to be shushed by his partner.

They look great, put them on and don't look back.

 

[SootySport]

They are OK, as long as they are the right colours, font, spacing etc. Have to say though, having pressed metal plates would be the last thing on my list. To many other things to buy and enjoy myself with.

 

[ajax1976]

Just bought a set on Ebay for £20 without the flaff of sending documents, correct font etc

 

[dimitar.tuntov.5]

I bought mine 21 Gbp metel pressed and still UK police never stop me

 

[Charlie Farley]

I think its just a random thing if you get pulled for them alone, but a lot seem to get a ticket for them after being pulled for another issue, so as they say , lets be carefull out there, you are more likely to come unstuck for incorrect spacing of lettering etc and font style than just becuase they are pressed plates.

 

[Sonny Singh]

if your on instagram then look at the gel ones. his insta id is @fullhousecustoms. ill be giving him an order soon

 

[Joe_Murphy21187]

I've never been stopped with mine and as far as I'm concerned they are fully UK road-legal.

They're pressed metal, however the have the necessary BS marks, the name of the plate manufacturer stated on them (not all do this or allow you to put a custom slogan on there, which is technically not legal, but I doubt you'd ever get pulled for this...), reflective yellow backing, correct font size and spacing etc.

 

[Aamir]

I've never been stopped too. Got mine from www.ukmetalplates.com - they look great, they're tough and they're fully legal...

 

[dimitar.tuntov.5]

Never had a single problem !
Metal pressed from ebay for 5 years now


Audi S4 lover

 

[psychopomp1]

Mine:

 

[Charlie Farley]

In a recent week of police action in this area non standard or non compliant plates were being ticketed by plod , they were doing a lot of random stops and check points targeting mobile users and other driving issues , when they had the cars to one side they would go around and take a good look at the car , check tyres etc and plates were being included.
It would appear that drivers with anything vastly differing from approved plates and spacing were notified accordingly, some leaway was being given but majorly differing plates and layout were hit, so be carefull , I think it was more an issue for drivers with incorrectly spaced numbers etc than metal plates.

 

[maxdrz400]

Ive had pressed plates on mine for nearly a year now, sold on ebay as legal (20quid a pair) carry all the correct bs marks, postcode etc spacing is legal font is standard too.
Passed last mot without question and i have never had a tug either.
I only got them as in my opinion they look better on the car than plastic ones.

 

[Charlie Farley]

I think plod are more likely to be a problem with letter / number spacing of non personal plates to be honest, if metal ones look correct letter spacing wise etc then cant see an issue.

 

[Rob Avant]

I had metal plates with the German style lettering for years and never had any problems, followed by the old bill many times and never stopped. Changed them to UK style metal plates now with all the correct markings as they look better and are 100% Road legal!