Advanced Driving Hub

The irony is nobody outside the advanced driving community of nit pickers would have any idea of the plates meaning, either correctly spaced or not.

waremark wrote:The irony is that though illegal those plates are capable of being machine read, and are far more likely to be remembered by any human witnesses than if they were legally spaced. Personally, I make value judgements about laws, and although my own number plates have always been legally spaced my respect for Reg has in no way been diminished by this.

While we all make value judgements about laws, we don't all come from a background where we enforced those laws, and we don't all lecture/speak/talk to Advanced Motoring Groups. That's what makes his position questionable. However, he is no longer a BiB and he doesn't represent the IAM, so in some respects he can do what he likes. But any pronouncement he makes about motoring laws will be less valid, if it can be shown that he deliberately chooses to break a law that he disagrees with.

akirk wrote:I would agree that it is not the best example - especially in an AD world where people tend to be quite observant (and sometimes a bit picky!) however I think it is easy enough to understand that this really doesn't negate his good advice online and elsewhere on how to drive...
Alasdair

It certainly doesn't, unless any of it relates to the need to obey road traffic laws. In which case his stance is questionable at best.

hir wrote:Of course, no one is suggesting that this action in any way negates his advice on driving or diminishes one's respect for his driving skills. I think the issue is about judgement. The question of judgement being... is this the sort of thing someone in his position should have done? And, in my opinion, I think both Mr & Mrs Local will surely be reflecting that, on this occasion, judgement was lacking.

Exactamundo.

GTR1400MAN wrote:The irony is nobody outside the advanced driving community of nit pickers would have any idea of the plates meaning, either correctly spaced or not.

There's no 'E' and the 'L's aren't the same - I don't get it?

Officer - "do you know why I've stopped you son?"
Punter- "I was exceeding the administrative legal speed limit applied to this section of road officer"
Officer - "Well done, I'll be offering you up for punishment"
Punter- "but Officer, I could easily stop in the distance I could see to be clear and could reasonably expect to remain so on my side of the road"
Officer - "Oh, well that's ok then. Off you go and have a nice evening"

hir wrote:

Silk wrote:I'm afraid my respect for Mr. Local has gone from somewhere approaching 100% to less than 10% because of this.

Has your respect for Mr Local fallen because he just meekly and obediently fitted to his car, without protest, the plates presented to him by Mrs Local on his birthday?

If I walk up the road in a dinosaur onesie, I'm still going to look a prat regardless of whether or not my wife bought it for my birthday. He should say, "thank you very much, nice thought, but I don't want to look a prat, so I'll put them up in the shed so I can look at them every day and be reminded of you".

Silk wrote: If I walk up the road in a dinosaur onesie, I'm still going to look a prat regardless of whether or not my wife bought it for my birthday. He should say, "thank you very much, nice thought, but I don't want to look a prat, so I'll put them up in the shed so I can look at them every day and be reminded of you".

When his wife isn't looking, hoik out the registration document (r3g15tr@t10n ???), head off to Halfords and get some kosher ones with the correct sp ac ing fitted. His wife 'knows' what they look like, so may never notice . . .

Horse wrote:

Silk wrote: If I walk up the road in a dinosaur onesie, I'm still going to look a prat regardless of whether or not my wife bought it for my birthday. He should say, "thank you very much, nice thought, but I don't want to look a prat, so I'll put them up in the shed so I can look at them every day and be reminded of you".

When his wife isn't looking, hoik out the registration document (r3g15tr@t10n ???), head off to Halfords and get some kosher ones with the correct sp ac ing fitted. His wife 'knows' what they look like, so may never notice . . .

Just say someone on the Internet grassed him up to the filth, providing photographic evidence and he had to change them pronto.

Did he actually drive on the road with that plate , or is it a ‘show plate’ he just puts on in the car park ?

The latter would be quite legal .

hir wrote:

akirk wrote:

waremark wrote:The irony is that though illegal those plates are capable of being machine read, and are far more likely to be remembered by any human witnesses than if they were legally spaced. Personally, I make value judgements about laws, and although my own number plates have always been legally spaced my respect for Reg has in no way been diminished by this.

well said...

I would agree that it is not the best example - especially in an AD world where people tend to be quite observant (and sometimes a bit picky!) however I think it is easy enough to understand that this really doesn't negate his good advice online and elsewhere on how to drive...

Alasdair

Of course, no one is suggesting that this action in any way negates his advice on driving or diminishes one's respect for his driving skills. I think the issue is about judgement. The question of judgement being... is this the sort of thing someone in his position should have done? And, in my opinion, I think both Mr & Mrs Local will surely be reflecting that, on this occasion, judgement was lacking.

I would agree with you hir.
I might be wrong but I thought that number plates were only to be made up by authorised garages now and they had to comply with the law. Additionally their name had to be displayed on the plate. I can't see any name on the plate and so would hope they were only on the car temporarily for the purpose of the photograph. So who made up the plates and why? Otherwise it may raise the question is this lacking judgement or skulduggery.

jcochrane wrote:I would agree with you hir.
I might be wrong but I thought that number plates were only to be made up by authorised garages now and they had to comply with the law. Additionally their name had to be displayed on the plate. I can't see any name on the plate and so would hope they were only on the car temporarily for the purpose of the photograph. So who made up the plates and why? Otherwise it may raise the question of judgement or skulduggery.

You are correct - but there is an additional source of number plates which do not need to meet those legal requirements - show plates, which are produced by many companies selling on ebay etc. - some of them will comply with regulations, but many will not - they are completely legal to own as there is a large scene of people at shows, but they are not technically legal on the road - however, there is not a big concern over their use generally as it is a minor misdemeanour - there are people out there who take front plates off cars because they think it looks better - lots of things going on - some will be caught and fined, but when you work it out, having a garage name on the plate may not be the highest priority for the police... who will be most concerned by plates that change the look of the letter - so a plate with II turned into U with an additional dot would be more of a concern as it makes the plate illegible - ultimately a mis-spaced plate can still be read...

Alasdair

Thanks for clarifying my post. I was referring to plates to be used on the public road to display the cars registered number rather than show plates.