Yep...a personalised number plate gave a robber away.

James Snell from Cardiff got together with his brother Wayne and a couple of other robbers, and used his own BMW car with his own personalised number plate to carry out a bank robbery. Witnesses saw the robbers lift a drain cover and smash the windows of the bank. And make off with over £100k of loot.

But what the robbers didn't count on was the very distinctive personalised number plate (J4 MES) that stood out like a sore thumb. Witnesses remembered the personalised number plate...and told the police. The robbers may as well have left their calling card!

Such a distinctive personalised number plate doesn't come cheap… I'd suggest it's worth upwards of £100k on today's market. Could it have been paid for from ill-gotten gains, perhaps...?!

The judge called the operation a "professional, sophisticated, pre-planned robbery on commercial premises".
The defence solicitior said: "The lure of what appeared to be easy money was too strong for him. It was his youth, immaturity and incompetence which led to the arrest."
I'm inclined to agree with the defence solicitor myself... and I thank goodness for Mr Snell's naivete that got him caught.

All the robbers received heavy sentences...personally, I think they should add a few more years for being complete numpties!

Moral of the story...? Robbing banks and personalised number plates don't mix too well.

Well it's that time of year... the rush for private number plates as an alternative Christmas present is now over. And it's been busy. Busier than you might expect in the current climate.

It seems a private number plate has never been more popular as a gift for Christmas. There's no doubt it's a great alternative to the usual options. And it's by no means restricted to men. We've had wives buying for husbands, boyfriends buying for girlfriends, parents buying for sons and daughters... and every variation. And one client bought a private number plate for every member of her family - husband, son, daughter... and even one for herself! It seems the others in the family hadn't picked up on her hints... so she decided to take matters into her own hands.


Most of our clients requested to have the private registration number they'd chosen assigned to the person's car just in time for Christmas. That meant that,when the gift was opened they could just walk out to the car, attach the new number plates and swap the tax disc... and that's it. It's ready to go. Perfect.

If you are considering buying a private number plate as a gift for someone (Christmas, birthdays, Mothers Day, Fathers Day... or just because!), and you want to have it assigned in time for the special day - then it's important to allow enough time to get it all done. Depending on the number plate you've chosen, it can take from around 3 weeks... and possibly (in a very small number of cases) up to 12 weeks. You'll also need to be able to get hold of the person's car documents - so bear this in mind too.

If you haven't allowed enough time, or you can't get hold of the person's car documents, there is another option. In many cases, it's possible to have the private number 'on a Certificate'. That means it still needs to be assigned to the person's car, and once that's done you can have the number plates made up and attached to the car.

Oh yes... and don't forget to let your insurance company know you've changed the number plate on the car!

There's a lot of confusion out there about what is or isn't a legal number plate.

The biggest area of confusion has been the legality of flags on car number plates. Are they legal? Are they not? Which ones are ok, and which are not? The one we see most often is the Euro / GB badge. This is, of course, perfectly acceptable. There was less clarity about other (more patriotic!) flags. This year all was clarified by Geoff Hoon (Transport Secretary). All four flags... Scotland, England, Wales, and the Union Jack are now fully legal.

"I look forward to seeing our national symbols on cars around the country"

said Mr Hoon.

Motorists in England, Scotland and Wales can now display the Union flag, Cross of St George, Cross of St Andrew (also known as the Saltire) or Red Dragon of Wales. And one of these identifiers can also be displayed: GREAT BRITAIN, Great Britain, GB, UNITED KINGDOM, United Kingdom, UK, CYMRU, Cymru, CYM, Cym, ENGLAND, England, ENG, Eng, SCOTLAND, Scotland, SCO, Sco, WALES or Wales.

The image must be on the left side. No other image is not allowed. That means no football emblems, cartoon characters, or anything else!

The DVLA are very specific about what is or isn't legal. Letters and spaces on car number plates are defined down to the last mm. As are background colours. Fancy fonts and background images are definitely not legal on a number plate.

Just a few weeks ago, the fine for an illegal number plate doubled to £60. It's an awful lot of hassle fighting the number plate fine after the event.

Incorrect fonts or manipulated letters and numbers make it difficult for any automated number plate recognition (ANPR) system to read the number plate. Even the car mot test has become more stringent this year.

The problem is that many people don't really understand what is or isn't a legal car number plate. If you have number plates made up by a reputable company they will know the rules. And should refuse to provide a number plate that doesn't comply. You will also be asked to provide full documentation to prove you are entitled to that registration number - that's likely to include your V5 log book and proof of ID.

Increasingly, there are a number of online car number plate manufacturers. Buying number plates online is easy and popular. Many offer the option of 'legal number plates' or 'show plates'. Show platesusually allow you to move letters around, add images, etc. Be warned - these are not legal. And you run the risk of being stopped and fined if you have an illegal number plate.

It's that time again. Another 1600 personalised number plates will be for sale at the next DVLA number plate auction in August.

The next DVLA auction will be at the RBS Williams F1 Conference Centre, Wantage, Oxfordshire on 5th, 6th, 7th August 2009. The three days will see the sale of 1600 number plates, with reserve prices ranging from just a few hundred pounds to several thousands of pounds. There are six DVLA auctions each year, taking place at prestigious venues around the country. On average, the DVLA sell over 4m pounds of number plates at each auction.

The feature registration number for sale next month is 4 O, which will be offered for sale on the final day of the auction. Or take a browse through the DVLA number plate auction catalogue... and see if there's anything you fancy.

Of course, you don't need to attend the number plate auction to make a bid. You can put in an absentee bid by telephone or internet. Just register, and get your bids in by 29th July.

Although, if you can go along in person, this would be a great opportunity to take a tour of the Williams F1 Grand Prix Collection while attending the auction.

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Have the number plates been stolen from your car?

It doesn't matter that they're not personalised number plates. The number plates themselves are of no real value to you or me - whether they're personalised, or just standard number plates. BBC Ulster Radio DJ Stephen Nolan was stunned when he was a victim last week.

Why would someone steal your number plates?

So if the number plates are of no value, why would someone want to steal them? It's quite simple. Since the DVLA introduced new rules that require you to prove you are entitled to a registration number, it's become more difficult to have number plates made up fraudulently. So it's easier to steal them.

The stolen number plates are then attached to another vehicle (probably the same model & colour as the original vehicle). And used for petrol drive-offs, or to avoid fines from speeding cameras and illegal parking. They're also used to hide the fact that a car is stolen, or simply to avoid congestion charges. It's known as car cloning.

An 86 year old lady from County Durham was the victim of car number plate cloning. The lady received fines for illegal parking and use of bus lanes... accompanied by letters from various council authorities. The result was unnecessary stress, though fortunately this is now resolved.

What to do if your number plate are stolen

If your number plates are stolen, the first thing you need to do is tell the police. It may not seem worth reporting, but it helps should your number plates be used fraudulently.
You will, of course, need to have another set of number plates made up. You will need proof of your identity, as well as your log book to prove you are entitled to the registration number. So take these along with you.

Theft resistent number plates are available - they break when the thief is attempting to remove them.

Number plate theft is not exclusive to the UK. It's reported as a major problem in Australia too - number plate theft accounts for as much as 12% of items stolen from vehicles. So much so that the police are fitting irreversible number plate screws free of charge.

Today it was announced that on-the-spot fines for illegal number plates are to double from £30 to £60.

The DVLA are very specific as to how a legal number plate should be displayed - including font, letter size, and spacing.

This includes failure to conform with rules on font, size and colour of number plates. The use of illegal number plates can have a significant impact on criminal investigations and crime detection.

say the DVLA.

The fine could be in addition to a 3-point penalty on your license. Repeated offence could even lead to the registration number being confiscated.

The increase in fine also applies for failing to use a seatbelt.