Tinted number plates

Except that I didn't claim that "both wheels AND tyres aren't essential for a car to be mechanically propelled". I did question the definition of 'mechanism', as legal definitions tend to be a fairly complex area, which is why we pay solicitors and barristers the big bucks.

So just in case of any doubt, I admired one illegal act, which results in a minor inconvenience, and is aimed at saving our planet, while pointing out that a different illegal act, which is aimed at looking cool and possibly avoiding detection isn't such a great idea.

Actually, now that I think about it, I really didn't say anything at all about illegal plates, except that anyone who wanted to avoid getting fined has an easy way to avoid such fines.

But it looks like you've been carrying some grudge around in your head for a years, and you think you've got a gotcha now to put me in my place.

Sorry to disappoint you.

@flyer_query I'd suggest that's me 2-1 into the lead with a brute force attack?

I would have said I thought I had seen it all:
> German font (without hyphens, or county name) on 'D' plates complete with fake Ingolstadt (for Audi) or Wolfsberg (VW) stickers and TUV stickers on them.
> Italics and other fancy fonts
> A black stripe instead of blue
> A black stripe with the car maker's logo instead of the EU flag
> Yellow reg plates (usually without hyphens or EU stripe)
> Creative spacing or omission of numbers (one from years ago having the reg: 7 - W - 7)
> Creative positioning of the fixing screws
> Black-on-Grey text
> And black-on-silver but with a current reg number
And the classic inch-thick layer of mud/muck making the plate completely unreadable

But then I spotted a reasonably nice car with the EU flag replaced with the tricolour and IRL replaced with Eire (including the fada)

My experience has been that, unless the index mark is incorrect for the vehicle in question, or the reg is foreign, the Guards aren't concerned and the driver will still be caught

In your opinion, but I'd counter that the common style of font used on printed plastic plates that copies the UK is downright ugly, pressed metal plates had a slightly nicer one that at least made the 1 look like a 1 and not an upper-case L or I.

The 'FE Schrift' font that's been used by Germany since 1995 or so was designed expressly to be tamper resistant with each character being distinct

You know if we didn't have both a number plate system that encourages snobbery and such an aggressive resistance to allowing folks to customise what they get issued, this could quickly become a non-issue as it could be introduced with a fixed font designation for all new (or reissued) plates.

In Norway they have a pretty simple system: Two letters issued to the region and a sequence number but the option to replace that with anything that isn't offensive, the font is standardised, the plate is considered a legal document and the police will remove plates from vehicles that are non-compliant with road rules including driving without the correct tyres (even from foreign registered vehicles)

The lax system here and lazy enforcement encourages it, and while it amuses me to see it, I consider it an own-goal scored by the powers that be.

Given the grey plates are an attempt to pervert the course of justice, they should be treated as such.

As in so many things here, until such time as they come up in a court case, nothing will be done about them.

We wouldn't be paying barristers €3k a day if your average Boards poster could be definitive about technical definitions in the statute book.

But regardless, you seem to have missed the key objective of tinted plates - which is to avoid having the reg plate readable either by humans or by machines or both. This is absolutely NOT a 'zero impact' on everyone else. And neither is choosing to drive an SUV a zero impact on everyone else.

In fairness, I didn't comment about whether fines for dodgy plates were good or bad things. I just pointed out that they're fairly easy to avoid, for anyone who wants to avoid them.

Risk is not the same as certainty.

Even if we accept that in relation to cameras, they're definitely less readable to humans harmed by the illegal driving of the dodgy plate owners - which is surely their intention.