What is the Legal Spacing and Letter Style on Number Plates
Information - Main
Dates of Registration Issues
Number Plates History
Legalities - Letter Spacing
There are different rules and regulations depending on the age & type of the vehicle together with where it was imported from and the available space on the bodywork for the plates. These are listed below, but the basic law on display applies to all vehicles.
The law states that,
You must not alter, rearrange or misrepresent the letters or numbers
Characters must not be moved from one group to the other
(e.g. A242 ABC must not be displayed as A242A BC).
Offences may result in any or all of the following:
A fine of up to £1,000
The registration mark may be WITHDRAWN
The vehicle may FAIL the MOT test
Full details of the requirements are included in The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 available from Her Majesty's Stationery Office
Mandatory Character Font
From 1st September 2001 all new number plates must display the new mandatory (compulsory) font. This, combined with the new style format registration mark is designed to make number plates clearer and easier to remember.
Number plates fitted before 1st September 2001 need not be changed provided the character font used is substantially the same as the new font.
Number plates must be replaced if they have been customised with:-
Stylised letters and/or figures such as italics
Number plate fixing bolts that alter the appearance of the letters and/or numbers
To simply explain the regulations, looking at the plate below:-
The 'Characters' are the individual letters and numbers. The 'Space between characters' refers to the spaces within a group of characters together, in this case A555 is one group and WOW is another group. The 'Space between groups' is thus the legal required space between those 2 groups of characters (shown as 33mm in the example)
Number Plates Fitted After 1st September 2001
Number plates fitted after 1 September 2001 must display characters that meet the dimensions shown below.
Characters Group 1
Height 79mm
Width (except Number 1 or letter I) 50mm
Stroke 14mm
Space between characters 11mm
Space between groups 33mm
Top bottom and side margins (minimum) 11mm
Space between vertical lines 19mm
Number Plates Fitted Before 1st September 2001
Number plates fitted before 1 September 2001 must display characters that meet the dimensions shown in one of the two groups below
Characters Group 1 Group2
Height 89mm 79mm
Width (Except Number 1 or letter I) 64mm 57mm
Stroke 16mm 14mm
Space between characters 13mm 11mm
Space between groups 38mm 33mm
Side margins (minimum) 13mm 11mm
Space between vertical lines 19mm 19mm
Display Of Vehicle Registration Marks On Imported Vehicles
(which have a restricted space for a standard sized number plate)
Certain imported vehicles may be permitted to display number plates with smaller characters if the vehicle does not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval AND the vehicle's construction/design cannot accommodate standard size number plates
Characters Group 1
Height 64mm
Width 44mm
Stroke 10mm
Space between characters 10mm
Display Of Vehicle Registration Marks On Motorcyles And Tricycles
Motorcycles and Tricycles registered after 1st September 2001 must only display a number plate at the rear of the vehicle
Motorcycles and Tricycles registered before 1st September 2001can display a number plate at the front but are not required to
Characters Group 1
Height 64mm
Width 44mm
Stroke 10mm
Space between characters 10mm
Space between groups 30mm
Top, side & bottom margin 11mm
Space between vertical lines 13mm
Motorcycles registered on or after 1st September 2001 must display a two-line number plate. Motorcycles registered prior to the 1st September 2001 may display a three-line plate, but one-line plates are illegal, irrespective of the date of registration of the motorcycle.ay display a three-line plate, ut one-line plates