The item photographed doesn't appear to conform to The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 which requires a 33mm gap between groups of letters.

(http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk/plates.htm)

"But the problem is when people change the letter spacing and make the plate hard to read. Cars with these plates fail MOT tests and there is a maximum £1,000 fine."

"The DVLA plans to work with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to crackdown on drivers. From 1 March people without correctly displayed plates may have their registration marks withdrawn permanently without compensation."

"just one bid at a paltry £1,000"

The number of bids has quadrupled , and the high bid is now just over 2 grand. Reserve not met, either - realistic or insane optimism? You decide.

Interestingly, just after I passed my driving test a mate of mine asked me whether or not I'd go hunting for the "L1NUX" plate once I'd got myself a car. I pointed out that I'd much prefer "8OFH" or some variant thereof :-)

in October 2005, on a motorbike. One of the truly saddest sights I have ever seen.

So not matter what the Beast of Redmond says, Vista _does_ cost 135 times what Linux costs? The market says so...

Limux users are sufficiently mature and above fan boy nonsense like personalised plates.

Says a lot about the users mentality. I'm surprised that anyone's prepared to pay even a tenner for a L1NUX plate, never mind bid a grand.

What's the point?

Mind you I've never been able to understand the mentality of people who pay good money for personalised plates - so perhaps I'm missing something.

I don't mind people having private plates. I think it can look quite nice, depending on the plate. and it de-ages the car which is nice. would I have one? possibly, except I can't work out what I'd buy. any ones I might conceivably want are waaay too expensive I think. also the paperwork whenever one buys and sells a car seems like a lot of hassle...

dave

...RE57ART seen on a Smart car belonging to a computer maintenance firm...

Around Peterborough i see on occasion W1NNT on a Honda Accord estate

I've never seen the sense in personalised numberplates either. Unless we're talking about RA55 MAN (say it out loud in a West Indian accent).

Doesn't seem to be for sale though :-(

"We suspect that Linux aficionados have become so accustomed to not paying for anything except pizza that they really aren't going to stump for this automotive statement"

You are Andrew Thomas and I claim my fifty quid.

"We suspect that Linux aficionados have become so accustomed to not paying for anything except pizza that they really aren't going to stump for this automotive statement"

We pay for beer! You just can't get that for free.

Taxi!

What gets me is that there's one Govt dept actively selling personalised number plates (in some cases for loadsa money) on the basis that the particular sequence can be seen as a particular "word"...and then another dept that'll fine you big time if you do re-space the characters in order to make the word....!

This country is going to the dogs and not mistake...!

This car / plate combination is parked outside a tech company local to me - also in Cardiff, Wales. What's going on? Is cardiff the new IT capital of the UK. I atually spotted L1NUX in the same car park (on a 5-series BMW) as URL 1 - so perhaps they're friends. I also note that James Wickes from Ideal hardware wants URL 1 - perhaps he should get in touch and I can point him in the right direction

...SH1T isn't the same price as V1STA? Both are, after all, equal.

H2 EAU

It's known to be driven by the owner of a local water bottling company.

That plate is illegal (letter spacing). It should be "L1 NUX".

I think you'll find the car has a new MOT (!)

"But the problem is when people change the letter spacing and make the plate hard to read. Cars with these plates fail MOT tests and there is a maximum £1,000 fine."

I've never understood the issue with changing the spacing on number plates. If the Police check your plate, I doubt very much that they check it as "L, 1, SPACE,N, U, X" for example!

I once saw "0RA DBA" on the back of a very, very expensive Merc, obviously one of those over-payed Oracle DBA contractors we all employ somewhere in the company!

I checked and I believe the number plate "1 DBA" is currently available for £23,000!!! Why so? I have no idea!! You'd think if youer were one, you'd want to keep it quiet!

I think the whole issue of private plates is sad.

Apart from that, I wouldn't want my number plate to be more easily remembered by someone I cut-up or speed past ;-)

More seriously, though, I knew someone who had one, (I forget what it was now) and he had been stopped a few times concerning the illegal spacing he had - the reason quoted earlier:

"But the problem is when people change the letter spacing and make the plate hard to read."

Weird. His was much easier to read/remember as a 'word' than in it's spaced out form - and we're just talking spacing, not changing a 4 to look like an A etc.

Bidders beware the L7NUX number plate

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/08/23/bidders_beware_the_l7nux_number/

The owner of L1 NUX admits "The police have stopped him five times for having the incorrect spacing between letters on his cherished plate."

"In London they're very very sensitive about the spacing of letters. I've been taken to court once," he said. Bult had changed the letter spacing on his plate within the seven days of being instructed to, but an admin cock up meant he still had to appear in court"

"He now lives in the countryside outside Cardiff where the number plate special squad is more relaxed. Which is not to suggest he doesn't adhere to the DVLA's regulations. He currently drives a BMW 528."

May be he has a revolving number plate switching from L1 NUX to L1NUX.

Which version is on the car at the moment?

Read it as you would see it in the mirror

T1 3VOM

Think of it as a stupidity tax.

Richard K: I suspect it's all to do with Automatic Number Plate Recognition: I've toyed with the idea of building a number plate recogniser, but my leet skillz aren't up to it. Mucking about with the typeface, weight, spacing, etc. will make it much harder for Plod's PC to recognize you as you whizz through the congestion charging zone...

Reminds me of the shell/bp/maxol/some other petrol company executive who purchased the legit Northern Ireland registration plate of "OIL 8055".

I'd rather have the number plate FR33 BSD ;)

Reputedly once seen on a pink E Type Jag. Or was it PEN 1S ?Says it all really.

V1STA is far older and has nothing at all to do with OS's (shock horror) as it was a word since there have been number plates.

I've seen two bentlys park next to each other with the plates.

"2 BE" on one and "Not 2 BE" on the other.

VE DUB01 seen on a new style beetle near reading.

D15 TRO would be a better choice.

Has anyone actually got BMT 216A ?

Now THAT'S a number plate worth covetting.

Private plates in the UK really are a joke. Trying to massage a sequence of letters and numbers into "words"? All because the UK public is being held hostage by a computer system designed in the 1970's that nobody can change in any meaningful way? If they could change it, they could allow REAL personalized number plates, without all the faffing about with numbers and letters. But no. They've got the gullible UK punters who will pay loads for "personalized" numberplates that aren't actually at all personalized.

Anyone who gets one of these things is simply supporting bad programming and bad design, and obviously has more money than brains. P.T. Barnum is proven right yet again.

Bleedin 'ell, do you have any idea how many pair of socks and sandals you can buy for that?

..B0 LL0X

stupid personalised number plates. I've been miffed since the DVLA wouldn't let me have B45TARD or W4NK3R, the b*st*rd w*nkers.

wonder how much Paris Hilton's would be?

XUNIJ might work too.

Steve Parrish, current BBC MotoGP commentator and former well-known 80's GP paddock prankster, used to have PEN1S on his truck...

One of my friends in the US had a red Corvette with the plate TOSSER.

He told the DMV that he came from a long line of caber tossers.

M7 JAG (with a curved "7" to look like a "Y") lives on a sporty Jaguar near me these days.

Why do people do that?

is the Edinburgh based Porsche with H1 61RLS!!

My car is the only 'cool' thing I've got going for me. If I'm ever to have any hope of getting laid more than once per decade, I think I'll pass.

Post by Kenny reminds me of one I saw in Brighton maybe 5-6 years ago (they'd got it on one of those 2 line number plates like you get on some 4x4's):

H1

5LAG

Classic

The Irish (Republic) system is even more restrictive -

The standard for regs is YY-C-NNNN, where YY is the year ie 07, C is the county e.g. D=Dublin, C=Cork etc, NNNN is a sequential number eg 34704. Nice and simple, the age of the car is easy to pick out, and where it's from.

One problem with this is that while at the start of the year all is fine eg. 07-D-123 is nice and easy to read, towards the end of the year the numbers get longer eg. 07-D-110573. Try reading the numerical part of the reg after the car does a hit and run. Not too easy. And think of all the regs that it could look like if you're out by a digit!

Right, back to the matter in hand - customising - you can't. Even down to the format of the plate and the font itself. Changing the font is an offence (afaik), and will certainly fail your NCT (MOT equiv) if you do.

The "creative" types try to do things with the number part. So every single Porsche in the country has some variation of YY-D-911. Well done. Its a 911. We know. (This technique also works for Peugeots, Rovers, BMW etc)

Having said all this, I do think that in Cork, in 2036 or Dublin in the same year, there will be sniggers as all the regs start with either 36-C or 36-D and a few lucky punters will get their grubby mits on the 7175th car, or even the 80085th car in their county. (Squinting may help, also having a juevenile mind!)

Fnar fnar.

H10RNY (with the 1 perilously close to the H)

- it was driven by a woman I can only describe as "undesirable" (I suspect she worked at a local dairy curdling milk).

As for the choice of icon for this post, she was one _ugly_ bird :-p

"I think the whole issue of private plates is sad.

Apart from that, I wouldn't want my number plate to be more easily remembered by someone I cut-up or speed past ;-)"

I couldn't agree more. If I were to get a personalized plate (the rules seems a bit different on this side of the pond) I would want my plate to say "I FORGOT". Then if the cops ever tried to "call it in", they would end up in an Abbot and Costello routine.

"Of course, were V1STA ever to become available, Windows apologistas would be falling over themselves"

No, no... They would be being sued for trademark violation or something.

F46GOT

Didn't stop to see if he was!

And when it ends some unfortunate sod finds out it's just for the plates (i.e. worth £20) rather than the actual reg number. Wouldn't surprise me really.

Seen in Northern Virginia, proof that Yanks can have a sense of humor: 2DV8S2B

BEG 4 1T

He was about 20, and quite pretty for a boy.

Instantly hated him.

I guess you guys have to pay a private company to do vanity plates .

Here the state does it no problem.

Cheap and with real choices :) http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg17.pdf

Over here in the states, most (if not all) of the states in the USA have personalized ones. You pay extra $$$ (every year) and you get a nice government issued official plate to put on your vehicle (all are made by the government). In looking up the rules in my state (see http://www.dmv.ca.gov) they allow 7 characters (letters and numbers). There are all sorts of silly rules (the number "69" can only appear on model year 1969 vehicles is one). I suspect that "LINUX" has already been issued in many of the 50 states (I have no facts, just guessing). Of course, the whole idea of a plate is to identify the vehicle when it zooms by you. My thought was to just draw numbers/letters out of hat to make up a random license plate. Confusing for the police to get a handle on.

Then again, I really wanted the plate "4900796" but they don't allow all numbers in custom plates (bummer). Bad reference to a computer of over 40 years ago.

Also out in the wild and seen 20 October is B1BLE.

"Steve Parrish, current BBC MotoGP commentator and former well-known 80's GP paddock prankster, used to have PEN1S on his truck..."

Up to a point, Lord Copper. 'twas PEN 15.

Back on topic, EDL 1 N spotted on a black Saab in Hertford last year. The best naff plate in the history of all things ever, thobut, was FAT 91 T, on a Mk III Cortina estate.

Here in NZ personalised plates are easily available from the gov. Any combination of six numbers and/or letters is allowed and they come arranged so that you can read them. Transferring them from car to car is easy and takes about five minutes. They are very common and loads of people use them particularly for advertising or related purposes. As a mobile computer tech I have 1FIXPC for my plate and it is often commented on and remembered. A lot of firms buy sequentially numbered plates for fleets. They even provide a useful guide here http://www.plates.co.nz/service/faqs/

And yes they are easily remembered if you see dodgy driving and even if someone has something similar it is quicker to eliminate 3 or 4 possibles than hundreds.

Shouldn't we all be yearning for "8 0FH" ?

The plate currently on the car was supplied with the car when new by the BMW dealer, it has not been tampered with in any way shape or form - you will note the "BMW" logo on the screen shot on Ebay.

I have the plates used in London in the Garage, the spacing was 2mm out, I'm guessing this was an accident rather than by intention as these too were installed by a BMW dealer.

The only possible reason I've heard for being so pedantic about spacing is so that automatic cameras can read the plate. I can confidently say that this isn't a problem with the current plates .. :-(

Utterly gorgeous blonde drove past me a few years ago in a merc convertible with plate HOT 53X...

A piccy I took some time ago

http://earthlabs.co.uk/gallery/v/strange_1/DSC00178.jpg.html

My camera phone didn't seem to have any problems

Re : WINNT

By Dave Morfee

Posted Monday 22nd October 2007 10:22 GMT

Around Peterborough i see on occasion W1NNT on a Honda Accord estate

Looks like its up for sale now as well

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=w1nnt

Your camera phone might not have any problems, but my eyes are when trying to read it! Perhaps I spend WAAAAY much too time staring at the screen!!