British number plates are there any rules?

gfplux

Just back from a week driving in England. I have lived outside the country a long time.
Used the Dartford crossing/tunnel with a Dart account so number plate recognition.
However
I was struck by the blatant liberties being taken by so many owners with their rear number plates (did not really look at front plates) moving letters numbers, no spaces, extra spaces, doctored letters/numbers.
Is it now anything goes a little like the Wild West. I thought there were rules about this. I also saw a few plates that looked like they had been sprayed, doctored so cameras would not read them.
Don’t the police do anything about this. It seems so obvious.
Does anyone care.
Whatever happened to the broken window theory.
Sorry just seemed so strange

Foster

There is, its not often I see dodgy number plates.

961

Police too busy shepherding climate protestors ensuring they are comfy in their tents

rousetafarian

I see them all the time

494930

There still are strict rules for how your number plates should be displayed, just that no one seems to enforce them anymore.

Greg Hook

It's like a lot of minor crimes/infractions, we just don't have enough police to sort out the proper crimes let alone these sort of things.

nvingo

They're checked for conformity as part of the MOT.
Then the owners drive away with their pass, and refit the doctored plates!

bubs999

There are rules, if stopped and ticketed for it, its £100 fine. If its a private plate, then photo evidence is sent to the DVLA and they will contact the owner. They will want proof that a legal plate is displayed. If they are caught again, the DVLA can remove the plate from the vehicle and the owner is issued with the original plate for the vehicle and the loose the private one.

However, with resources being thin on the ground, it's not one that is dealt with as often. However...... Cameras are now being used in some areas to target illegal plates

Leo31291

Technically I'm running show plates on my car. The characters are the right size, correctly spaced, on a reflective material, and the regulation writing on the bottom right. But they don't have the text at the bottom stating the maker and address of where the plate was made. Pending on the tester, this should fail an MOT. So I'll have to switch mine out when it comes to it.

gfplux

Thanks for the replies.
Low level crime just not policed is my answer.
Very sad, where did all the money go to provide the resources for this?