What is the Legal Spacing and Letter Style on Number Plates

There are different rules and regulations depending on the age & type of the vehicle together with where it was imported from and the available space on the bodywork for the plates. These are listed below, but the basic law on display applies to all vehicles.

The law states that,

You must not alter, rearrange or misrepresent the letters or numbers
Characters must not be moved from one group to the other
(e.g. A242 ABC must not be displayed as A242A BC).
Offences may result in any or all of the following:

A fine of up to £1,000
The registration mark may be WITHDRAWN
The vehicle may FAIL the MOT test

Full details of the requirements are included in The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 available from Her Majesty's Stationery Office

Mandatory Character Font

From 1st September 2001 all new number plates must display the new mandatory (compulsory) font. This, combined with the new style format registration mark is designed to make number plates clearer and easier to remember.
Number plates fitted before 1st September 2001 need not be changed provided the character font used is substantially the same as the new font.

Number plates must be replaced if they have been customised with:-

Stylised letters and/or figures such as italics
Number plate fixing bolts that alter the appearance of the letters and/or numbers

To simply explain the regulations, looking at the plate below:-

The 'Characters' are the individual letters and numbers. The 'Space between characters' refers to the spaces within a group of characters together, in this case A555 is one group and WOW is another group. The 'Space between groups' is thus the legal required space between those 2 groups of characters (shown as 33mm in the example)

	Number Plates Fitted After 1st September 2001
	Number plates fitted after 1 September 2001 must display characters that meet the dimensions shown below.
	Characters	Group 1
	Height	79mm
	Width (except Number 1 or letter I)	50mm
	Stroke	14mm
	Space between characters	11mm
	Space between groups	33mm
	Top bottom and side margins (minimum)	11mm
	Space between vertical lines	19mm

Number Plates Fitted Before 1st September 2001
Number plates fitted before 1 September 2001 must display characters that meet the dimensions shown in one of the two groups below
Characters	Group 1	Group2
Height	89mm	79mm
Width (Except Number 1 or letter I)	64mm	57mm
Stroke	16mm	14mm
Space between characters	13mm	11mm
Space between groups	38mm	33mm
Side margins (minimum)	13mm	11mm
Space between vertical lines	19mm	19mm

	Display Of Vehicle Registration Marks On Imported Vehicles
	(which have a restricted space for a standard sized number plate)
	Certain imported vehicles may be permitted to display number plates with smaller characters if the vehicle does not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval AND the vehicle's construction/design cannot accommodate standard size number plates
	Characters	Group 1
	Height	64mm
	Width	44mm
	Stroke	10mm
	Space between characters	10mm

	Display Of Vehicle Registration Marks On Motorcyles And Tricycles
	Motorcycles and Tricycles registered after 1st September 2001 must only display a number plate at the rear of the vehicle
	Motorcycles and Tricycles registered before 1st September 2001can display a number plate at the front but are not required to
	Characters	Group 1
	Height	64mm
	Width	44mm
	Stroke	10mm
	Space between characters	10mm
	Space between groups	30mm
	Top, side & bottom margin	11mm
	Space between vertical lines	13mm
	Motorcycles registered on or after 1st September 2001 must display a two-line number plate. Motorcycles registered prior to the 1st September 2001 may display a three-line plate, but one-line plates are illegal, irrespective of the date of registration of the motorcycle.ay display a three-line plate, ut one-line plates