01670 786151 (9am - 9pm) 
Black Number Plates
Drivers that like to customise their cars look on in envy at classic cars which are allowed to have black number plates
These are usually made out of metal and have silver digits, however they can also have white plastic digits and sometimes the are made out of a black plastic sheet of plastic with white number and lettes stuck on
These plates date back to the first number plates introduced in 1903 and became illegal in January 1973. This legislation was not retrospective so cars made before that date can continue to use them
Sometimes they can be seen on cars which are obviously post 1973, however these drivers are breaking the law and risk a 1000 pound, confiscation of their registration number and even impounding of the vehicle.
Current number plates are made of a highly reflective background coloured white for the front and yellow for the rear, black digits are then printed onto this background and the whole lot is stuck to a sheet of clear acrylic.
In 2001 further legislation was introduced to specify font, character spacing, character height, width and stroke. At the same time a British Standard was implemented covering such things as reflectivity and impact resistance.
Clearly the old style black metal number plates meet none of the current requirements.
If you have any questions regarding any of the above , please contact us by email or telephone.
Back to Glossary Index
