It's legal if, and I quote (from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001 ... ion/6/made):robf wrote:I haven't had trouble so far with it, and that includes a meeting with a police officer at the weekend.
In fact, i was with an RS7 with no front plate and he was let off after giving an excuse. I did the same, but after meeting the same police officer three times last year, 2 fines later i bottled it and went with the sticker plate you can see above.
If i didn't do almost 1,500 miles a month i'd take my chances, but an all black RS6 always looks like it's up to no good...
By ignoring the fact that mounting them in the usual place on the grille is indeed "reasonably practical" (3a) you are technically committing an offence. On the other hand the characters seem as if they will be clearly visible from a diagonal distance of 21.5 m from the 'plate', i.e. stood directly in line with the offside of the car so it probably depends on what sort of mood the policeperson happens to be in when they clock the front of your car.The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 wrote:
Fixing of front registration plates: vehicles registered on or after the relevant date
6.—(1) This regulation applies to vehicles, other than works trucks, road rollers and agricultural machines, first registered on or after the relevant date.
(2) Except as provided in paragraph (5), a registration plate must be fixed on the front of the vehicle in the manner required by paragraph (3).
(3) This paragraph requires the plate to be fixed—
(a)vertically or, where that is not reasonably practicable, in a position as close to the vertical as is reasonably practicable,
(b)in such a position that in normal daylight the characters of the registration mark are easily distinguishable from every part of a relevant area having the diagonal length specified in paragraph (4).
(4) The diagonal length of the relevant area is—
(a)in the case of a mark having characters the width of which is at least 57 millimetres, 22 metres,
(b)in the case of a mark having characters the width of which is 50 millimetres, 21.5 metres,
(c)in the case of a mark having characters the width of which is 44 millimetres, 18 metres.
(5) In the case of a motor cycle or a motor tricycle which does not have a body of a type which is characteristic of the body of a four-wheeled vehicle—
(a)a registration plate must not be fixed on the front of a vehicle if it was first registered on or after 1st September 2001,
(b)a plate need not be fixed on the front of the vehicle if it was first registered before 1st September 2001.
