Yellow Donegal number plates

pow wow

Just curiosity really...but does anyone know why a lot of DL registered cars have yellow number plates on the rear? It's not something I've seen in any other counties so I'm assuming it has something to do with the proximity to the North and the yellow plates in use here?

Is it a fashion type thing or is there some kind of logic behind it? 'Tis one of those things that always pops into my head when I'm driving around the border areas....and no-one I've asked has a clue.

smashey

They're like the blue lights. The little gimps driving the cars think they look sexy.

They change them before the NCT.

muffler

Yeah it appears to be, as smashey said, a bit of the "in thing" for the little boys with their little racers. I dont really know the legalities of it though - might just ask the question over in the motors forum

Creamy Goodness

AFAIK they are illegal, my cousin had one on his car (he bought it second hand and was in the process of getting a white plate) and was stopped by the gardai.

pow wow

I figured it wasn't legal but I was just wondering more why people in Donegal do it? I drive the length and breath of Ireland and never see it anywhere else. I would have thought if it's a purely boy racer thing they'd be doing it everywhere, not just the DL plates.

budweiserfrogie

Any time i saw these yellow plates i assumed that the car owner was british and proud of it. And that using a british rear numberplate, on a car that probably was normally used in the republic, and probably near the border was their weird way of saying this. But i later noticed that it is usually the boy racer type cars that have these plates fitted. So i now think that both these two reasons are probably true.

deman

Some years ago, when I lived in Donegal, I brought a car out of Northern Ireland and had it registered in Donegal. As I lived so close to Strabane, I thought it would be easier to get the plates done there (some place in the Melmount Rd), so I did. When I went to collect the plates, one was of course yellow. I'd forgotten to tell the plate-makers that they both should be white, but I took it anyway. I drove through garda checkpoints every day and not once was I asked about them. The only time I was ever asked about them was by a British soldier in a car park in Strabane who was more confused than anything else. It's just one of the many things that the gardai turn a blind eye to.

Wishbone Ash

ellscurr wrote: »

I figured it wasn't legal but I was just wondering more why people in Donegal do it?

It seems to be rampant in Donegal allright. I've even seen it on commercial ROI registered vehicles up there.

Do speed cameras 'recognise' them? Is that a reason for them?

AckwelFoley

i thought it was perhaps because they wouldnt "stand out" as much when driving through the Shankill road

muffler

snyper wrote: »

i thought it was perhaps because they wouldnt "stand out" as much when driving through the Shankill road

Yeah and switch them to green before entering the Ardoyne

ednwireland

saw an 08-DL car with a yellow rear plate yesterday

muffler

ednwireland wrote: »

saw an 08-DL car with a yellow rear plate yesterday

Strange indeed seeing as its a new car and you would imagine the plates would have been fitted by the garage but then theres nothing to stop the buyer going elsewhere for his own "personalised" plates.

sesswhat

It's definitely illegal to have anything other than a white background (See Number 9 here if anyone is interested) though I suppose it's not something the Garda will get too excited about unless you pi55 them off about something else.

Unfortunately I can remember the old red rear number plates, and even the old silver on black before that.:)

Wishbone Ash

sesswhat wrote: »

It's definitely illegal to have anything other than a white background

Apologies for being pedantic but that only applies to vehicles registered on or after the 1st January 1991.

sesswhat

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Apologies for being pedantic but that only applies to vehicles registered on or after the 1st January 1991.

Indeed! And there are exceptions for army vehicles and some other large PSV vehicles as well, but I'm sure it applies to most if not all of the cars discussed here.

il gatto

I've seen it other counties, including Sligo, Cavan, Leitrim, Monaghan and Longford. I've heard people claim that it's so they don't stand out as much in the north, but seeing as most of these people spend approx. 3 hours a year in the north and run the risk of being pulled by the Gardaí for them the other 99.9999% of the time, I would have thought it was a fairly specious argument. I think sadly there's an element of northern plates being cool because a. They're illegal and make you look like some kind of rebel and b. There is a larger preponderonce of sports and high powered cars in the north and i think these boy racer types look up to their brethern across the border.

mackerski

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Apologies for being pedantic but that only applies to vehicles registered on or after the 1st January 1991.

True - prior to that, certain other colours were allowed. But yellow was never one of them.

deman

mackerski wrote: »

True - prior to that, certain other colours were allowed. But yellow was never one of them.

I remember my father getting a car from Hegartys in Letterkenny with a yellow plate on it reged "IH ****"

*StoneCold*

My Derry reg car KUI xxxx is on 2 white IRE plates, it doesn't seem to be illegal up here, you see some people run round with GB plates, and others drive round with IRE plates.

deman

*StoneCold* wrote: »

My Derry reg car KUI xxxx is on 2 white IRE plates, it doesn't seem to be illegal up here, you see some people run round with GB plates, and others drive round with IRE plates.

AFAIK it's not illegal in NI.

donegalman1

As far as illegal plates go in Donegal the District court Judge recently fined someone €1000 for having the wrong plates. In the same court he fined someone only €300 for speeding in a built up area. The judgements seem disproportionate and this is simptimatic of our District Legal system and Donegal's in particular

But one thing is for sure, it ain't worth chancing the illegal plates for that kinda fine.

Citizen_Erased

Was stuck behind a hiace van today , at least a good few years by the look of the exhaust , had a yellow backplate ... 08 D Something something ...

......if I was a gaurd I would have given that a look for sure.

seamus

They're used in the mistaken belief that if a Garda sees a yellow reg, he won't spot the Irish registration and will ignore it because they can't touch NI reg cars.

mackerski

*StoneCold* wrote: »

My Derry reg car KUI xxxx is on 2 white IRE plates, it doesn't seem to be illegal up here, you see some people run round with GB plates, and others drive round with IRE plates.

White Irish plates are illegal in NI, on the rear of the car at the very least. GB plates even require a specific machine-readable font, but I think that all UK plates require a kite mark.

*StoneCold*

mackerski wrote: »

White Irish plates are illegal in NI, on the rear of the car at the very least. GB plates even require a specific machine-readable font, but I think that all UK plates require a kite mark.

Ive been stopped ALOT by the PSNI and ive took my car through its MOT in the north and never once has anyone said to me about the plates.

Its the same as people driving around with the 2 GB plates.

FGR

Yellow plates are illegal in Ireland but once you pop over the border I wouldn't worry.

What people need to realise is that if you're prosecuted for having non-compliant number plates it means a mandatory court appearance as opposed to a fine.

homer simpson

Please don't bump zombie thread's. Locked.