Legalize / United Kingdom / Statutory-Instrument

The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001

Type Statutory-Instrument

Publication 2001-02-26

State In force

Department King's Printer of Acts of Parliament

Source legislation.gov.uk

Reform history JSON API PDF

Made: 26th February 2001

Laid before Parliament: 28th February 2001

Coming into force

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 23(3) and (4) and 57 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994, and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:—

PART I — PRELIMINARY

Citation, commencement and revocation

1

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 and shall come into force—

(a) for the purposes of this paragraph and regulation 17, on 21st March 2001, and

(b) for all other purposes, on 1st September 2001.

(2) The regulations specified in Schedule 1 are hereby revoked.

Interpretation: general

2

(1) In these Regulations the following expressions shall have the following meanings—

“the Act” means the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994;

“agricultural machine” means a vehicle which is an agricultural tractor, an off-road tractor, a light agricultural vehicle, an agricultural engine or a mowing machine;

“agricultural tractor” means a tractor used on public roads solely for—purposes relating to agriculture, horticulture or forestry,cutting verges bordering public roads, orcutting hedges or trees bordering public roads or bordering verges which border public roads;

“EEA State” has the meaning given by Schedule 1 to the Interpretation Act 1978

“light agricultural vehicle” means a vehicle which—has a revenue weight not exceeding 1,000 kilograms,is designed and constructed so as to seat only the driver,is designed and constructed primarily for use otherwise than on roads, andis used solely for purposes relating to agriculture, horticulture or forestry;

“motor cycle” means a vehicle having 2 wheels and includes a vehicle of that description in combination with a sidecar;

“motor tricycle” means a vehicle having 3 wheels symmetrically arranged;

“off-road tractor” means a tractor which is not an agricultural tractor and which—is designed and constructed primarily for use otherwise than on roads, andis incapable by reason of its construction of exceeding a speed of twenty five miles per hour on the level under its own power;

“quadricycle” means a vehicle having four wheels, a maximum net engine power not exceeding 15 kilowatts and an unladen mass (excluding the mass of batteries in the case of an electrically-powered vehicle) not exceeding—550 kilograms in the case of a goods vehicle, and400 kilograms in any other case;

“registration plate” means a plate or other device displaying the registration mark of the vehicle , but does not include such part of a plate or device as is intended for the display of material specified in regulation 16(3), (4), (4A), (4B) and (4D);

“prescribed font” means the style shown in Schedule 4 for a character of the height specified in that Schedule;

“relevant date” means—in Great Britain, 1st October 1938, andin Northern Ireland, 1st January 1948;

“works truck” means a vehicle which is—designed for use in private premises, andused on public roads only—for carrying goods between private premises and a vehicle on a road in the immediate vicinity, orin passing from one part of private premises to another or between private premises and other private premises in the immediate vicinity, orin connection with road works at or in the immediate vicinity of the site of the works.

(2) Unless the context otherwise requires, a reference in these Regulations to—

(a) a registration plate fixed or to be fixed to a vehicle, or

(b) a registration mark displayed or to be displayed on a plate,

is to be construed, where the vehicle is towing a trailer, so as to include a reference to the registration plate which is required under these Regulations to be fixed to the trailer or a reference to the mark displayed on the plate fixed to that trailer.

Exempt vehicles

3

Nothing in these Regulations applies to—

(a) an invalid vehicle, that is a vehicle the unladen weight of which does not exceed 254 kilograms and which is specially designed and constructed, and not merely adapted, for the use of a person suffering from a physical disability and solely used by that person; or

(b) a pedestrian-controlled vehicle, that is a vehicle the unladen weight of which does not exceed 450 kilograms which is neither constructed nor adapted for the carriage of a driver or passenger.

PART II — REGISTRATION PLATES

Interpretation of Part II

4

In this Part the following expressions shall have the following meanings—

“diagonal length”, in relation to a relevant area, means the length of a line drawn diagonally across the square enclosing the area (so that the extent of the relevant area is thereby delimited);

“relevant area”, in relation to a registration plate, means the area contained in a square described on the ground—in front of the vehicle in the case of a plate fixed on the front of the vehicle, andbehind the vehicle in the case of a plate fixed on the rear of the vehicle,where one corner of the square is immediately below the middle of the plate and the diagonal of the square from that corner is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle;

Fixing of rear registration plates: vehicles registered on or after the relevant date

5

(1) This regulation applies to vehicles, other than works trucks, road rollers and agricultural machines, first registered on or after the relevant date.

(2) A registration plate must be fixed on the rear of—

(a) the vehicle, or

(b) where the vehicle is towing a trailer, the trailer, or

(3) Where a vehicle (or, in a case where the plate is required to be fixed on a trailer, that trailer) has been constructed so as to satisfy the requirements of EU law , or assimilated law, in force at the time of construction as regards the space to be provided for the fixing of the rear registration plate, whether or not it was required by law to satisfy them, the plate may be fixed in the space provided in accordance with those requirements but if it is not so fixed it must be fixed in the manner required by paragraph (5).

(4) Except as provided in paragraph (3) the plate must be fixed in the manner required by paragraph (5).

(5) This paragraph requires the plate to be fixed—

(a) vertically or, where that is not reasonably practicable, in a position as close to the vertical as is reasonably practicable, and

(b) in such a position that in normal daylight the characters of the registration mark are easily distinguishable from every part of a relevant area having the diagonal length specified in paragraph (6).

(6) The diagonal length of the relevant area is—

(a) in the case of a mark having characters the width of which is at least 57 millimetres, 22 metres,

(b) in the case of a mark having characters the width of which is 50 millimetres, 21.5 metres,

Fixing of front registration plates: vehicles registered on or after the relevant date

6

(1) This regulation applies to vehicles, other than works trucks, road rollers and agricultural machines, first registered on or after the relevant date.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (5), a registration plate must be fixed on the front of the vehicle in the manner required by paragraph (3).

(3) This paragraph requires the plate to be fixed—

(a) vertically or, where that is not reasonably practicable, in a position as close to the vertical as is reasonably practicable,

(b) in such a position that in normal daylight the characters of the registration mark are easily distinguishable from every part of a relevant area having the diagonal length specified in paragraph (4).

(4) The diagonal length of the relevant area is—

(a) in the case of a mark having characters the width of which is at least 57 millimetres, 22 metres,

(b) in the case of a mark having characters the width of which is 50 millimetres, 21.5 metres,

(5) In the case of a motor cycle or a motor tricycle which does not have a body of a type which is characteristic of the body of a four-wheeled vehicle—

(a) a registration plate must not be fixed on the front of a vehicle if it was first registered on or after 1st September 2001,

(b) a plate need not be fixed on the front of the vehicle if it was first registered before 1st September 2001.

Fixing of registration plates: vehicles registered before the relevant date

7

(1) This regulation applies to vehicles, other than works trucks, road rollers and agricultural machines, first registered before the relevant date.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (4), a registration plate must be fixed in the manner required by paragraph (3) on—

(a) the front of the vehicle, and

(b) the rear of—

(i) the vehicle or,

(ii) where the vehicle is towing a trailer, the trailer or,

(iii) where the vehicle is towing more than one trailer, the rearmost trailer.

(3) This paragraph requires each plate to be fixed—

(a) in a vertical position or, where that is not possible, in a position as close to the vertical as is reasonably practicable, and

(b) in such a position that in normal daylight the characters of the registration mark are easily distinguishable, in the case of a plate fixed on the front of the vehicle, from in front of the vehicle and, in the case of a plate fixed on the rear of the vehicle or trailer, from behind the vehicle or trailer.

(4) In the case of a motor cycle and a motor tricycle which does not have a body of a type which is characteristic of the body of a four-wheeled vehicle, a registration plate need not be fixed on the front of the vehicle.

Fixing of registration plates: works trucks, road rollers and agricultural machines

8

(1) This regulation applies to works trucks, road rollers and agricultural machines.

(2) A registration plate must be fixed on the vehicle in a vertical position or, where that is not possible, in a position as close to the vertical as is reasonably practicable—

(a) on both sides of the vehicles, so that the characters of the mark are easily distinguishable from both sides of the vehicle, or

(b) on the rear of the vehicle, so that the characters of the mark are easily distinguishable from behind the vehicle, or

(c) where the vehicle is towing a trailer or trailers and the plate is not fixed on the sides of the vehicle, on the trailer or the rearmost trailer (as the case may be) so that the characters of the mark are easily distinguishable from behind the trailer.

(3) Where the towing vehicle is an agricultural machine, a plate fixed on the trailer may, instead of displaying the registration mark of the towing vehicle, display the mark of any other agricultural machine kept by the keeper of the towing vehicle.

Lighting of rear registration plates

9

(1) This regulation applies to vehicles other than—

(a) works trucks,

(b) road rollers,

(d) vehicles first registered before the relevant date.

(2) Where the vehicle is being used on a road between sunset and sunrise the registration plate fixed on the rear of—

(a) the vehicle, or

(b) where the vehicle is towing a trailer, the trailer or,

must be lit in accordance with this regulation.

(3) Where a vehicle (or, in a case where the plate is required to be fixed on a trailer, that trailer) has been constructed so as to satisfy the requirements of EU law , or assimilated law, in force at the time of construction as regards the rear registration plate lamp, whether or not it was required by law to satisfy them, that plate may be lit by a lamp which complies with those requirements but if it is not so lit it must be lit in the manner required by paragraph (5).

(4) Except as provided in paragraph (3) that plate must be lit in the manner required by paragraph (5).

(5) This paragraph requires the plate to be lit so that it is easily distinguishable from every part of a relevant area having a diagonal length—

(a) in the case of a plate displaying a mark having characters with a width of 44 millimetres, of 15 metres, and

(b) in any other case, of 18 metres.

Specifications for registration plates

10

(1) A registration mark must be displayed on a registration plate conforming to the requirements prescribed by this regulation.

(1A) In the case of a vehicle first registered on or after 1st September 2021 the registration plate must conform to the requirements set out in Part A1 of Schedule 2.

(2) Subject to paragraph (4A), in the case of a vehicle first registered on or after 1st September 2001 but before 1st September 2021 the registration plate must conform to the requirements set out in Part 1 of Schedule 2.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4) or (4A), in the case of a vehicle first registered on or after 1st January 1973 but before 1st September 2001 the registration plate must conform either to the requirements set out in Part 2 of Schedule 2 or to the requirements set out in Part A1 or Part 1 of that Schedule.

(4) Where on or after 1st September 2001 but before 1st September 2021 a new registration plate is fixed to a vehicle to which paragraph (3) applies to replace a plate previously fixed thereto, the plate must conform to the requirements set out in Part 1 of Schedule 2.

(4A) Where on or after 1st September 2021 a new registration plate is fixed to a vehicle to which either paragraph (2) or paragraph (3) applies to replace a plate previously fixed thereto, the plate must conform to the requirements set out in Part A1 of Schedule 2.

(5) In the case of a vehicle first registered before 1st January 1973, the registration plate must conform either to one of the requirements set out in Part 3 of Schedule 2 or to the requirements set out in Part 2 of that Schedule or to the requirements set out in Part A1 or Part 1 of that Schedule.

(6) The corners of a registration plate may be rounded off provided that the requirements of regulation 14(9) (margins around registration marks) are not thereby infringed.

Further requirements for registration plates

11

(1) No reflex-reflecting material may be applied to any part of a registration plate and the plate must not be treated in such a way that the characters of the registration mark become, or are caused to act as, retroreflective characters.

(1A) The surface of a registration plate must not comprise or incorporate any design, pattern or texture, or be treated in any way which gives to any part of the plate the appearance of a design, pattern or texture.

(2) A registration plate must not be treated in any other way which renders the characters of the registration mark less easily distinguishable to the eye or which would prevent or impair the making of a true photographic image of the plate through the medium of camera and film or any other device.

(3) A registration plate must not be fixed to a vehicle—

(a) by means of a screw, bolt or other fixing device of any type or colour,

(b) by the placing of a screw, bolt or other fixing device in any position, or

which has the effect of changing the appearance or legibility of any of the characters of the registration mark, which renders the characters of the registration mark less easily distinguishable to the eye or which prevents or impairs the making of a true photographic image of the plate through the medium of camera and film or any other device.

(4) Section 59(2)(a) of the Act (regulations the contravention of which attracts a level 3 fine) applies to paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) of this regulation.

PART III — REGISTRATION MARKS

Interpretation of Part III

12

(1) In this Part and in Schedule 3, the following expressions shall have the following meanings—

(a) “diagram” means a diagram shown in Part 2 of Schedule 3 and a reference to a numbered diagram is a reference to the diagram identified by that number in that part of that Schedule,

(b) “Table A” means the table in Part 1 of Schedule 3,

(d) a reference to “relevant character height” , except in relation to a vehicle to which regulation 14A applies, is a reference to the height of the characters in the registration mark shown at the head of column (2), (3) or (4) of Table B as the case may be.

(2) Any provision as to measurement contained in this Part or in Schedule 3 shall be taken to be complied with—

(a) in the case of a provision prescribing character height, if the height of the character is not more than 1 millimetre more or less than the measurement prescribed herein, and

(b) in the case of a provision prescribing any other dimension, if the dimension of the character or the space in question is not more than 0.5 millimetres more or less than the measurement prescribed herein.

(3) For the purpose of any provision contained in this Part or in Schedule 3 as to the spacing between characters or between groups of characters or as to the width of a margin the measurement shall be made—

(a) in the case of a horizontal spacing requirement, between vertical lines passing through the extreme edges of each character or group of characters or between a vertical line passing through the extreme edge of a character and the lateral edge of the plate (as the case may be), and

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