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Number Plate Legality

As a DVLA Registered Number Plate Manufacturer, we at DWDPLATES understand the importance and responsibility we hold when manufacturing number plates. DWDPLATES are often asked questions revolving around this, so here is a guide regarding plate legality. All of the plates we manufacture, whether there are 3D Gel or 4D Acrylic Custom Number Plates are fully Road Legal (with the exception of show plates)​

One of the most common questions we’re asked is, are Custom Number Plates Legal? Contrary to popular belief, Yes, 3D & 4D Plates are in fact 100% Road Legal. 

Unfortunately, there has been a wide spread of misinformation in the Car Industry between Motorists. A lot of information has been passed and changed over the years. As a DVLA Registered Number Plate Manufacturer, DWDPLATES can guarantee that 3D & 4D Number Plates are 100% Road Legal as long as they are manufactured within the correct regulations!

In order to regulate the number plate industry, DVLA release information regarding the correct standards for number plates in hope to educate motorists. 

The conditions a plate must meet in order to be road legal are:

  • Be made from a reflective material – for the purpose of road safety.
  • Black display characters on a white background (Front Plate)
  • Black display characters on a yellow background (Rear Plate)
  • Not have a background pattern – so as not to distort the readability of your plate.
  • Be marked to show who supplied the number plate – to assist with thefts and sourcing queries.
  • Be marked with a British Standard Number – this is ‘BS AU 145e’ for plates fitted after 1-SEP-2021
  • The characters must not be removable or reflective. If the plates are made after 1-SEP-2021 they must also be a single shade of black. 

Your Number Plates can:

  • Have 3D (raised characters)
  • Display certain flags, symbols and identifiers
  • Display a green sticker if you have a zero-emissions vehicle

To reiterate, 3D and 4D Number Plates are fully Road Legal & MOT compliant as long as they are manufactured by a reputable and trusted company such as DWDPLATES. In order to ensure our customers are on the right side of the law, we ensure all of our plates are made in house. By doing this, we can keep a close eye on the production process and ensure everything is fully compliant. 

The only exception to our number plate legality are show plates. Though they are legal to own, the highly customizable nature of these plates renders them illegal to be used on public roads. These can be used on a private property, but there is no other exceptions. 

Due to the importance and nature of Number Plates, DVLA have set out very strict guidelines in regards to manufacturing and distributing Custom Number Plates. Unfortunately, many sellers or ‘companies’ skip over many of these guidelines in order to cut costs and corners. 

It is your responsibility to ensure your vehicle is road worthy and legal at all times. You could be fined up to £1,000 and your vehicle will fail its MOT test if you drive with incorrectly displayed number plates. You should always carry out due diligence and only shop with trusted and registered Number Plate Manufactureres such as DWDPLATES.

As long as your custom number plate was manufactured under the regulations at the time, and were legally compliant at the time of the purchase, this will still be the case now.  The new regulations did not omit previously legal custom number plates but rather defined a different approach for newly manufactured plates.