PULLED OVER FOR DODGY NUMBER PLATE

Hi all.
Just got home after travelling along the M27 near Fareham.
Just before junction 9, I spotted a 550 Maranello on the hard shoulder, with a police car.
As I got closer, I noticed the number plate of the Ferrari started with the digits S50. The owner had made the S look like another 5.
I could see the BIB pointing to the plate and gesticulating to the Ferrari owner.
Was it you?
Hardly the crime of the century, and in the rain too!

 

Hope he gets done and has the plate taken off him. Winds me up when people buy a cheap plate for £200 then mis-represent the letters to look like something else. Wish plod would stop more people for this.

 

Some Police can be a bit padantic about things, but at the end of the day its the law, and its down to the Police officer themselves.

Although the other day i saw a BMW M3 which had body kits and tinted windows, and had a number plate which you could hardly read (different text style), and didnt particularally look legal, and he was undertaking cars on the motorway. Thats when you want a Police officer.

 

Total waste of time - you see 10 times worse examples of altering letters than making an S look like a 5. This must have more to do with the fact that it was on a Ferrari than anything else.
This plate configuration is not unusual I've seen several 550's with S50 plates.

 

Was it silver?

 

The majority of police officers in this country are well balanced
I.E they have a chip on both shoulders

And the problem with the law.....
where do you begin??

Convicted murderers, rapists, paedophiles escaping from open prisons and being allowed to commit more crimes

Did hear we have the highest cocaine culture in Europe the other day.

Obviously these issues dont quite rank up there with a number plate issue

 

Yes, it was silver or maybe titanium.

 

I think I know who that may have been.

 

ROFL

I seem to remember seeing pics of a silver 550 with the plate S50 FER in a magazine at some time... IIRC it had red/bordeaux interior.

 

I completely agree , complete disregard for the law and setting a bad example

 

I really hate cheesy number plates that are altered to look like something they are not

 

Where is Hazy when you need him (Sorry mate!)

I don't really see it as crime of the century when the plate is in standard text and it is easy to tell what the characters are. However illegal fonts and impossible to work out plates are IMO a problem.

If you were involved in an incident with a car that had illegal font plates or the driver had a hit and run etc etc you wouldn't be able to record the plate for later use!

 

That's not the one I'm thinking of. Perhaps there are a few with similar plates.

 

Exactly, like taking E3 GOM and making it look a little bit like F360M.

 

Why wouldn't they just get "F360M"? Is it because somebody else took it already or because it costs too much to get such a plate or something else?

 

It's because it has never been issued.
The F prefix numbers from 1-20 are still to be issued. No date announced yet.

 

Sorry for the slight change of topic, curious Yank here, but I have always been a bit baffled by the plate issuing system in the UK. It is obviously different than that in the USA, but why don't you have a means to get custom license plates? It seems that you have to try and cheat the system to get something remotely close to what you want (i.e. S50 when you want 550). My V8 Datsun 240Z has a license plate QWKDTSN and my Audi S4 Avant has a license plate TRBOWGN. The special plates cost $45US once on initial registration and an extra $30US every year on top of the standard registration fees. Not very much money and worth it IMO.

 

That's a cracker...

 

It all comes down to price and availability. You cannot just choose any combination. S50 FER would have been sold by the DVLA (the licensing authority for the UK) at a modest price of a few hundred pounds. 550 FER may have been issued many years ago and would probably command a price of several thousand pounds.

Some plates, eg KI NGS and S1 NGH, were sold for in excess of £200k.

Hazy's plate is virtually worthless to any normal person .

 

This thread is worth a read:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35382&highlight=K1+NGS

 

With DVLA always looking for ways to increase revenue I've never understood why they do not issue unique plates. Here in NZ you can have anythig you like (within reason!) up to 6 digits/letters. My Mondial has got MON QV and I've seen F 308, F 328 and silly ones like ON MY EX, I H8 TAX etc. Perhaps somebody could have a word in Mr Blairs shell-like?

 

KenC, Thanks for the link! That helps a lot. I have heard the guys on Top Gear say 'If you have 54 or 56 plates, please take part in our survey' etc. etc... The systems certainly are different. I suppose "The British government has made £700m selling number plates" (from the link) explains everything. What a pain.

 

Was it this one?

S50 MAF
Picture from the See Red 2004 Programme
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That's the one I was referring to. He turns up at many meets like Auto italia and VW, the last one being a couple of weeks ago.

 

My take on plates is that I'm tight as a gnats chuff and see no reason to pay thousands for a plate when the good old DVLA do em for £300. In the case of my 355, i thought it looked great. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all. Cant find a cheapier for the spider so it will have to remain a plain old 53!!

Plus i should only have to pay half price coz i only have a plate on one end.
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