An urgent warning has been issued to drivers ahead of the introduction of new number plates, as strict rules could lead to motorists being met with a £1,000 fine.
Ahead of the rollout of the new ‘75’-plated cars on September 1, the DVLA has urged drivers to ensure their own licence plates follow the specifications to be road legal.
“Number plates (also known as licence plates) must show your registration number correctly,” the DVLA said.
“You cannot rearrange letters or numbers, or alter them so that they’re hard to read.
"You could be fined up to £1,000 and your vehicle will fail its MOT test if you drive with incorrectly displayed number plates."
The DVLA says your number plates must be made from a reflective material, and most display black characters on a white background on the front, with black characters on a yellow background at the back.
There must be no background pattern, and the plate must be marked to show who supplied the plate.
Characters on the number plate must not be removable or reflective, and any plates fitted after 1 September 2021 must be a single shade of black.
Number plates must also be marked with a British Standard number, which, for plates fitted after 1 September 2021, is BS AU 145e.
The DVLA does permit you to have number plates with raised (3D) characters, certain flags and symbols, and a green flash if you have a zero-emission vehicle.
New vehicles will be registered with 75 number plates until February next year, when they will be registered with ‘26, before registering with ‘76’ from September 2026.
