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What Number Plates Have the DVLA Banned in the UK?
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Categories Driving Law » Driving Tips »
We are hiring! Are you an experienced technician? Join our outstanding team »
What Number Plates Have the DVLA Banned in the UK?
Reading time 2 minutes
Categories Driving Law » Driving Tips »
Many motorists like to personalise their vehicles, wanting to inject a greater sense of personality and character when behind the wheel.
This personalisation can take many forms, including changing the colour of the car, adding interior features like seat and steering wheel covers and other aesthetic changes. Similarly, many people decide to personalise their number plates.
While customising number plates usually means people finding ways to incorporate their name, some drivers are more imaginative and may make references to places, football teams and even favourite brands.
However, there are some things that you cannot place on a license plate.
Each year, the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) releases a list of number plates that are banned and will be considered illegal if installed on a vehicle.
In this article, we’ll outline what number plates the DVLA, has banned in the UK and the reasons why.
As mentioned above, every year the DVLA announce its latest list of banned number plates to go alongside ones that have been banned previously.
For 2023, 73 specific number plates have been banned, all of which were deemed inappropriate by the DVLA panel that meets twice a year to discuss this very issue.
The organisation has stated that any plates that ‘may cause offence, embarrassment or are in poor taste’ should not be allowed on British cars. With this in mind, for 2023, plates that make references to COVID-19, Brexit and the war in Ukraine have been added to the list.
As well as specific number plate combinations, certain prefixes have also been banned as they can be used to make inappropriate words or sentences. For example, AN73 can be interpreted as ‘anti’, HA73 can be used for ‘hates’ and EA73 for ‘eats.’
For obvious reasons, we won’t go into too much detail over what some of the banned number plates reference, but just to give you a taste of the type of thing you can expect to be banned, here are a few examples.
As well as references to the war in Ukraine, you can see from the list above that some number plates can be interpreted as profanity which is why they’re not allowed on British roads.
As well as understanding what number plates are banned, drivers should also be aware of other number plate requirements. With this in mind, we’ve put together a quick list of the most commonly asked questions in regard to number plate rules.
As well as making sure your number plate isn’t on the banned list, there are a number of other specifications it must meet.
This includes:
The number plate must also meet certain spacing requirements and guidelines. Information on this can be found on the government’s website.
As mentioned above, the main reason the DVLA has a list of banned number plates is to avoid plates that ‘may cause offence, embarrassment or are in poor taste’. It’s all done to maintain respect on the roads and to ensure plates are not used to spread hate or discriminate against any particular group. a
If you have a personalised licence plate that has been banned by the DVLA, then it means your number plate is illegal. You could face on-the-spot fines of £100 which could be increased to £1,000 if the matter reaches court.
If you spot a motorist that you suspect is driving with a banned number plate you should report it to the police, especially if it’s displaying racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language.
When making a report, make sure you provide as much detail as possible about the car, including what the number plate says, the make and model of the car, the colour and any other distinctive details that would aid the police in their investigations.
The DVLA do not accept reports on banned number plates, as they consider it a police matter.
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