Drivers urged to avoid £1,000 fine over DVLA change from Monday

Motorists could be slapped with a hefty £1,000 fine for breaking a simple DVLA rule after major changes, coming into effect from Monday. New number plates are introduced by the DVLA twice a year, with ‘75 plates coming into use from September 1.

Number plates are a critical part of a vehicle and must follow a series of specific criteria to be road legal. Any deviations around font, size, character position and even the age of the plate could be enough to tip road users into a penalty. Most importantly, number plates most accurately reflect the age of the vehicle, meaning new ‘75 designs cannot be added to newer vehicles.

Vehicles with the latest number plates are often high in demand on release but breaking the rules and placing a new design on an older car could backfire.

Sam Sheehan, motoring editor at cinch, explained: “Those ‘75’ plates might look great, but you can’t put one of the fresh number plates on an older car to make it look newer. Try this and you can land yourself a fine. You can transfer your old number plate to a newer model or register your personalised plate to any car, of course. ”

It means motorists desperate to get their hands on a new ‘75 plate should do their homework and make sure designs are legal before getting behind the wheel.

Meanwhile, all UK number plates must use the "Charles Wright" font with characters 79mm tall and 50mm wide, and 11mm spacing between them. Tweaking characters to spell words or using screws to change how letters look is against the rules.

Number plates must be made from reflective material and need to display black letters at all times. Meanwhile, front number plates must have a white background, while rear plates should have a yellow background.

Certain country identifiers are allowed, but the EU flag is no longer permitted on UK number plates post-Brexit and could result in penalties. Meanwhile, plates must always be kept clean and tidy with dirt and mud regularly cleared off so the letters are visible for law enforcement purposes.

UK number plates must also show the supplier’s name, postcode, and British Standard number, currently ‘BS AU 145e’.

Sam added: “It’s very important to stay up to date about number plate rules. Not only is it about staying safe on the road, you could land yourself a fine if you don’t comply. From design to visibility, there might be some surprising rules drivers don't know about.”