Pulled over for legal 4d plates- Cautioned and reported

[Gunner786]

Need some advice on this guys. Got perfectly legal 4d number plates. Have flown through taxi MOT and also in my home town doing taxi for 6 months with these with police station 2 streets away from me and never had an issue.

Today i had a job to kensington and i got pulled over and got done for my 4d plates. Explained to him they are perfectly legal and they have the name and postcode of the Registered Number Plate Supplier in the bottom center plus the name of the material manufacturer in the bottom right corner, along with the British Standard code. He said his anpr couldnt read it.
Bear in mind i have autopay at gatwick, heathrow, luton airport and with tfl and have always been detected and money taken from my account. He showed me it on his handheld camera and the numbers and 1 letter were not visible.
He read me my rights and stated i am now under caution. Expect a letter from Met police. Any advice what to do and can i fight it? I only put them on because they were "legal" and adeted to the requirements for 4d plates. He did say you can contest it but you will then have to pay the court fee's too.

[119]

Gunner786 said:

Need some advice on this guys. Got perfectly legal 4d number plates. Have flown through taxi MOT and also in my home town doing taxi for 6 months with these with police station 2 streets away from me and never had an issue.

Today i had a job to kensington and i got pulled over and got done for my 4d plates. Explained to him they are perfectly legal and they have the name and postcode of the Registered Number Plate Supplier in the bottom center plus the name of the material manufacturer in the bottom right corner, along with the British Standard code. He said his anpr couldnt read it.
Bear in mind i have autopay at gatwick, heathrow, luton airport and with tfl and have always been detected and money taken from my account. He showed me it on his handheld camera and the numbers and 1 letter were not visible.
He read me my rights and stated i am now under caution. Expect a letter from Met police. Any advice what to do and can i fight it? I only put them on because they were "legal" and adeted to the requirements for 4d plates. He did say you can contest it but you will then have to pay the court fee's too.

Is there any such thing as ‘legal’ 4d plates?

[Mont Blanc]

Gunner786 said:

Need some advice on this guys. Got perfectly legal 4d number plates. Have flown through taxi MOT and also in my home town doing taxi for 6 months with these with police station 2 streets away from me and never had an issue.

Today i had a job to kensington and i got pulled over and got done for my 4d plates. Explained to him they are perfectly legal and they have the name and postcode of the Registered Number Plate Supplier in the bottom center plus the name of the material manufacturer in the bottom right corner, along with the British Standard code. He said his anpr couldnt read it.
Bear in mind i have autopay at gatwick, heathrow, luton airport and with tfl and have always been detected and money taken from my account. He showed me it on his handheld camera and the numbers and 1 letter were not visible.
He read me my rights and stated i am now under caution. Expect a letter from Met police. Any advice what to do and can i fight it? I only put them on because they were "legal" and adeted to the requirements for 4d plates. He did say you can contest it but you will then have to pay the court fee's too.

To help your case, here is a friendly police traffic officer confirming they are legal (as long as they don't have the coloured layer under the letters):

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_XA0cUWPdFQ

Should have shown them this video at the roadside!

Raised '4D' letters are legal.
Gel letters are legal.

The officer who stopped you was obviously clueless and I would opt to contest it in court. It would be amusing to embarrass the officer for his ignorance, and well worth taking a morning off work for IMO.

[Sporky]

I would think that if his ANPR is working but couldn't read them then they're illegal.

[119]

Didnt even realise there were so many types of plate tbh.

Or see the point unless it’s a show car or summink.

[Mont Blanc]

[redacted]

[Sporky]

Mont Blanc said:

Raised '4D' letters are legal.
Gel letters are legal.

Provided they can be read by ANPR.

[SteBrown91]

4D plates are legal but it could be your plates have failed in some way (water ingress under the top layer of the letters perhaps) making them unreadable?

Tbh it should be illegal to have them - they are horrid things but unfortunately I’m not in charge!

[200Plus Club]

Style police rightly intervening. They look naff.

[Mont Blanc]

Sporky said:

Mont Blanc said:

Raised '4D' letters are legal.
Gel letters are legal.

Provided they can be read by ANPR.

Is that an actual piece of legislation? That plates become illegal if ANPR on a patrol car cannot read them?

(Genuine question - I'm asking as I've never heard of it)

[Sporky]

Mont Blanc said:

Sporky said:

Mont Blanc said:

Raised '4D' letters are legal.
Gel letters are legal.

Provided they can be read by ANPR.

Is that an actual piece of legislation? That plates become illegal if ANPR on a patrol car cannot read them?

(Genuine question - I'm asking as I've never heard of it)

From what I've read, yes. So filthy plates are illegal, as are badly worn plates. If the letters are deep enough that ANPR can't read them from a reasonable angle they're illegal.

[Oceanrower]

In which case, you wouldn’t think they’d have a BS label

[vonhosen]

Oceanrower said:

In which case, you wouldn’t think they’d have a BS label

The BS number is a legal requirement, but it's presence doesn't mean that the plates can't be illegal of some other reason.

[Powerfully Built Company Directors Secretary]

Below is an email from the DVLA that I keep safe in case I have any issues with my pressed metal number plates. I've had them on various cars since 2017 and had no issues.

Dear Mr Powerfully Built Company Directors Secretary,

Thank you for your enquiry received on 27/5/2018.
Your case reference number is XXX.

We appreciate that you have taken the time to contact us in relation to this matter.?

It may help if I explain that in order to obtain confirmation on whether pressed metal number plates are legal, please contact a registered number plate supplier (RNPS) available on our website here.

Registered number plate suppliers can only produce number plates to meet the legal requirements. If they can manufacture a pressed metal plate, it will be legal to use.

I hope this information is of assistance.

Do not reply to this email. If you wish to contact us again about this response then please use our reply form link or copy and paste the following URL in to your browser:

XXX

Best Regards
N Morgan

I would suggest that your plates are legal, and I would challenge the ticket you've received.

[Mont Blanc]

Sporky said:

From what I've read, yes. So filthy plates are illegal, as are badly worn plates. If the letters are deep enough that ANPR can't read them from a reasonable angle they're illegal.

A quick google says that plate manufacturers suggest sticking to 3mm thick raised lettering for perfect readability, but say that up to 5mm deep is fine for ANPR.

Any deeper than that, and they will likely be difficult to read by ANPR.

The OP needs to measure his letters and come back to us, or show a (partially redacted) photo of the plate.

[Sporky]

It is of course possible that they're legal, but 4D plates can be illegal.

[m3cs]

OP, just have a normal plate. Problem solved.

[mcdjl]

What does the 4d refer to when talking a about these plates? The letters are 3 dimensional, so what's the 4th?

[Tommo87]

Mont Blanc said:

Sporky said:

From what I've read, yes. So filthy plates are illegal, as are badly worn plates. If the letters are deep enough that ANPR can't read them from a reasonable angle they're illegal.

A quick google says that plate manufacturers suggest sticking to 3mm thick raised lettering for perfect readability, but say that up to 5mm deep is fine for ANPR.

Any deeper than that, and they will likely be difficult to read by ANPR.

The OP needs to measure his letters and come back to us, or show a (partially redacted) photo of the plate.

How many times do you need to hear the same thing repeated by multiple people, before your brain catches up?

[MikeM6]

mcdjl said:

What does the 4d refer to when talking a about these plates? The letters are 3 dimensional, so what's the 4th?

The time it takes to figure out why anyone would have them?