Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Silver/black plates cause confusion!

You'd possibly get away with it once....!
Same BiB sees you again and.....
How about a revolving numberplate a la James Bond?

I'll confess I have b&w plates myself but I appreciate the irony.

At the tender age of 19 I bought a second-hand, '69 reg MGB Roadster. I was really pleased that a previous owner had given it reflective plates, and to update it further I equipped it with a set of Rostyles. Of course if I had the chance to buy the car back today I would be trying to revert it to original spec. I can't believe I sent the pressed steel wheels to landfill.

~iw

I have a set of black and silver plates, as I think they look good; but as my 4/4 is post '73, use them only rarely and predominantly when in France for events such as Le Mans Classic.

However, if you ever follow a Morgan at night, even one fitted with LED rear bulbs, they are hard to see. Reflective plates add considerably (IMHO) to the visibility of the Morgan to following traffic.

As for the confusion in regulations, it has a hint of Yes Minister about it!

The black Morgan we saw on the M42 last year in the dark and wet was lost in the sea of large cars with reflective plates.

Sorry that the link can't be accessed, forgot that unlike this the TRR forum is no longer fully 'open'.

Can't stop me doing a copy and paste so here's the first post

"I note from page 8 of the latest FBHVC newsletter that at a recent meeting with the DVLA their
representatives were told that the cut-off date for black and white number plates is
linked to the historic taxation class date. This means that from 1st April of this year non-reflective
plates became allowed on vehicles built before 1st JANUARY 1975. From 1/4/2016 they will be permitted on
vehicles built before 1/1/2016 and so on unless the 40-year rolling VED exemption is abolished in a future budget.

Tim"

Tim then gets a few comments about his mistype of the date in the last line, but the point is made later about the Construction and Use regulations

"I wonder if the DVLA know the construction and use regulations on number plates.
Vehicles made on or after the 1st January 1973 are required to have reflective type plates by law."

Hence the confusion!

So, the answer probably is that they're not changing the law and that black/silver plates will remain only legal on pre 73 cars? I've had no reply from Practical Classics or the number plate supplier that I queried.

Thanks for posting. I still can't find where I read it myself but the FBHVC is obviously where this originated.

The newsletter mentioned is Issue 4 2015 and can be found (although not easily!) on the Federation's website here: www.fbhvc.co.uk/members-pages/newsletter-archive/.

The relevant paragraph on page 8 is this:

Non-Reflective Number Plates
At every meeting with DVLA we learn something completely
new! In this case it is that the end date for black and white
(or silver and white) number plates is linked to the historic tax
class date. So we were told that non-reflective plates are now
permitted on vehicles built before 1 January 1975.


~iw

In fact there is clarification in the following issue (number 5).
It seems that it is true, black and white plates have been linked to the "historic" class since 2001 but only now has this become evident!
Note the phrase "unintended consequence"...

---

My thanks to several members who contacted me to express
doubts over the item in the last Newsletter concerning non-
reflective number plates. In fact that information is correct
and I am grateful to DVLA for supplying
this detailed explanation.

The previous Regulations on the display
of registration marks had only ever
permitted vehicles manufactured before 1973 to use black
and white number plates. However, the changes to the law
in 2001 which introduced the new (and current) number
plate format directly linked the pre-1973 vehicles with those
which were in the historic tax class (which had the same
dates). This meant that when the changes to the historic
tax class dates were announced in recent Budgets, this
had the unintended consequence of amending the display
Regulations to allow additional vehicles to display black and
white plates.

For those wanting chapter and verse the detailed provisions
in Schedule 2 Part 2 of The Road Vehicles (Display of
Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 state that 'VEHICLES
REGISTERED ON OR AFTER 1ST JANUARY 1973 AND BEFORE
1ST SEPTEMBER 2001' must have white and yellow reflective plates,
either of the current design or the previous, but Regulation 18
provides that exempt vehicles shall be treated for these regulations
as registered before that date, so they therefore fall into
Schedule 2 Part 3 'VEHICLES REGISTERED BEFORE 1ST
JANUARY 1973'. It should be noted that DVLA publication
INF 104 has not yet been amended to reflect this situation.

---

http://fbhvc.co.uk/members-pages/newsletter-archive/_file/201/fbhvc-news--5-15-pdf/
Page 6.

~iw

It's all a bit Kafkaesque in its confusion isn't it? Like I say, my response from DVLA says that this is untrue, but then again maybe the person who answered it hadn't dug deep enough through the layers of rules and regulations! Think I'll stick with reflective plates for the time being!

Put it in perspective re: DVLA.
For several years after a bill passed through parliament allowing motorcycles in this country to tow trailers, DVLA refused to acknowledge it, saying it was dangerous and would not put the motorcycle trailer allocation on driving licenses.

I'm going back a good number of years on this...