Legal Number Plates: The Rules Made Simple
Legal number plates will meet the number plate spacing rules, margin requirements and will use the correct number plate font. There are also strict requirements for the colours, patterns and general design of your plates. We review all of these requirements.
The number plate rules and regulations can initially feel a bit overwhelming. However, if you don’t follow these number plate rules, you could end up with a substantial fine of up to £1,000 upon failing your MoT test or getting caught on the road. Even if you aren’t going to customise your plates, this guide will ensure you have legal number plates.
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Required UK number plate format
The required format for car registration plates in the UK depends on your car’s registration date. The varieties include: current, prefix, suffix and dateless (cherished). To gain an overall understanding of the different styles, you can read more on our private number plates explained page. For the purpose of this blog, we will view the format of the current style (registrations after September 2001). However, rules for all types of plates will be covered in the guide.
Format rules for current number plates
The first two digits on the number plate, the DVLA memory tag, identifies the location of the cars registration. For example, a plate from Oxford may start with the letters OA or OY whereas Reading could begin with RA or RY. However, certain letters (I, Q and Z) are not included within these memory tags.
Two numbers appear next, these characters make up the age identifier. These numbers are taken from a code which pinpoints when the car was registered. All registrations throughout March to August are easy to work out because they use the last two numbers of that year. For example, if the number was 06, the car would have been registered between March 2006 – August 2006.
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Why is the number plate format
At this point, you may be wondering why the DVLA puts so many rules and regulations in place. Number plates are unique and are essential for law enforcement. That is the primary reason why specifications have been set in place for legal number plates.
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A key requirement to remember
It is against the law to misrepresent the age of your car by making it appear younger. For example, you are not authorised to put a 07 age identifier on a car registered in 2004. However, you could put 07 on a car from 2018. If you are buying personalised number plates as a present for your friend, make sure you check their car’s registration date.
Read more: All You Need to Know about New Vehicle Registrations
Legal number plate sizes
Character height for number plates
What are the UK number plate size requirements, you ask? The height of all characters must be equal. For legal number plates, you cannot include one letter which is higher than its counterparts. For plates bought between the 1st of January 1973 and the 1st of September 2001, the legal height has been placed at 89mm. Outside of these dates, the height of each character should be 79mm tall,
Stroke width for number plates
Each of the strokes must be 14mm wide, although number 1 and letter I are an exception to those measurements. With that in mind, the width of all the characters must remain the same. You can have the thickness of a letter or number differ, which some fonts do support. Keep it consistent and avoid that nasty illegal number plates fine!
Number plate spacing rules
The number plate spacing rules for plates registered after the 1st of September 2001 and before the 1st of January 1973 are the same. All cars registered within these time-frames must leave 11mm between each of the characters and 33mm between the age identifier/memory tag etc.
However, the number plate spacing rules are different if the car was registered before September 1st but after 1st Jan 1973. In this case, characters must 13mm between each other and the additional characters (age identifier and memory tag) must be separated by 38mm.
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Margin requirements for registration plates
The margins also have specific measurements in order to meet British Standards. Similarly to many of the number plate rules, the margins are set into several categories.
If you get your number plate fitted today, it would need a margin of 11mm around all sides (top, bottom, left and right).
Number plates fitted prior to the 1st of September 2001, must ensure their margins are at least 13mm to the sides, top and bottom.
Individuals with number plates dating back to 1972 (and earlier) should leave a minimum of 11mm to each of these sides.
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Legal number plate designs
If you want to hang your licence plate on the wall, you can shop anywhere! Get your creative hat on and start sketching out those elaborate designs. However, you need to abide by the law if you are putting the number plates on your vehicle.
Legal number plate fonts and phrases
The UK number plate font has been set by the British Standard rules to ensure your plate’ visibility is maximised. Therefore, the Charles Wright font must be used by all drivers. Some licence plate dealers do provide the option to customise the font. However, all alternative number plate design fonts are illegal for the road. There simply isn’t any flexibility, even italics is prohibited.
If you wish to personalise your letters, you can make them 3D. Whilst you can choose a word or phrase for your plate, some phrases are not permitted. The DVLA bans plates deemed to be too rude and words that could cause offence.