No front number plates

Miatamad · Post by **Miatamad** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:34 am

zorruno wrote: I have disputed other things such as
missed Regos, and 'no front plate' tickets, as I don't see them as a
danger to others, and disputing these points of law is fun.

OK - I'm curious - how do you (sucessfully) argue a 'no front plate' ticket?

Beacuse I would love to lose mine.

Post by **zorruno** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:41 am

Miatamad wrote:OK - I'm curious - how do you (sucessfully) argue a 'no front plate' ticket? Beacuse I would love to lose mine.

Unfortunately you are only likely to argue it once. And also, this was back around 2001/2002 so I doubt you'd get away with it at all anymore. Basically, I wrote a written apology, installed the plate, took a photo of the car with the plate on and asked them to reconsider my ticket.

How it concept worked was:
1. Drive around with no plate until I got a ticket (Ignore any warnings that I got)
2. Get ticket.
3. Argue the ticket, and if unsuccessful, just pay the fine. It was worth $200 just to have no front plate for a year or so.

I tried it again for a while, but got another ticket, paid it and left the plate on since. I might have got away with it for longer, but we lived near the motorway central office and a police officer with a mission... (who incidentally featured on a recent NZ police show, and has been stood down from duty). Don't get me wrong - I accept that was breaking the law, but I knew what the consequences were and was happy to accept them.

The last of the no-front-platers was probably Chic L, but I'm pretty sure he has his back on now. I think he was ticketed too when parked.

You generally are more likely to get ticketed for no front plate either if you are parked in an Auck City carpark (they write tickets for warrants/regos etc too) or if stopped for speeding etc. They are less likely to stop you just for the act of having no plate, but this is what happened the last time I got a ticket (having the 'cop on a mission' didn't help).

And by the way, I'm talking about Auckland or major cities here. In some small towns you could probably get away with no front and rear plates without being ticketed. You can search for my old comments re number plates in the NZ list archives (which will be easier when I eventually get them all up here...).

Cheers

Miatamad · Post by **Miatamad** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:25 pm

I have just been looking on the ltnz sitefor information on what the legal requirements are for a plate (size, material etc) - there is bound to be something better than the normal (huge) plates (after all you can get the narrower euro plates now).

Cannot find anything yet - Ill keep looking.

And thanks mods for making this a new subject.

C

Post by **zorruno** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 1:14 pm

on 10/07/2006 12:25 p.m. Miatamad wrote:

I have just been looking on the ltnz sitefor information on what the
legal requirements are for a plate (size, material etc) - there is bound
to be something better than the normal (huge) plates (after all you can
get the narrower euro plates now).

There is no legal requirement for manufacturing your own plate. Why?
Because you must display the correct, government issued (or legally
issued via the likes of the plates company) number plates on front and
rear.

There is still an argument re covering with plastic/glass, location
(should really be central), obscuring etc but they should be the actual
issued plated that have the little holograms on them.

Feel free to do more research (look at transport acts etc), but I think
you will find this is the correct answer, and anything else is
stretching the law...

Aren't the Euro plates wider? They fit the NZ new MX5s, but not the
imports (which are japan or US sized). Note that there has just been a
new font released for all new plates which is slightly smaller & squarer
looking, but I don't think this relates to the euro plates, which were
released a while ago - mainly for BMW owners I feel...

The new front plates are still the same dimensions as the old ones - just
with a smaller font (although I haven't measured it... but can see both
plates out of my window)

cheers
--
(z)

[Posted via External Email]

peter · Post by **peter** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:58 pm

front and back? wrapped around a lamppost is it?

R LTD · Post by **R LTD** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:07 pm

I'm curious. Are you referring to having no front number plate OR subsituting the number plate with a stick-on. Following a number of other MX5ers I had a sign writer scan my existing number and reduce it to 85% and have positioned it just below the Mazda symbol. So far no problems. Was advised to keep the original front plate in the car. Have friends who have done the same for a number of years without problems.
Could be if you are law abiding and look "mature" you get ignored.

Post by **zorruno** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:28 pm

R LTD wrote:I'm curious. Are you referring to having no front number plate OR subsituting the number plate with a stick-on

Both. I have never had a stick on, but I have had a plastic substitute sign, the correct width, similar font, but half the height. This got me 2 warnings (same police officer).

R LTD wrote:Could be if you are law abiding and look "mature" you get ignored.

Could be. Could also be luck of the draw... living in Auckland... a number of random things. It is still an offence with a $200 (possibly more now) fine.

Shermio · Post by **Shermio** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:45 pm

I have been temped to go the sign writer route and I had a fresh paint job on my front end so no more dimples... I don't know how, but there are many beaters out there with their front plates behind the windshield on the dash...

I must ask one of them how many times they have been pulled over or ticketed next time

Post by **zorruno** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:34 pm

on 10/07/2006 11:45 p.m. Shermio wrote:

I have been temped to go the sign writer route and I had a fresh paint
job on my front end so no more dimples... I don't know how, but there
are many beaters out there with their front plates behind the windshield
on the dash...

I must ask one of them how many times they have been pulled over or
ticketed next time

Surprisingly enough, I've been warned for that too...

As an aside... I was going around a corner once (rather
enthusiastically) with the plate jammed into the dash. It came loose
and fell out the side of the car...

--
(z)

[Posted via External Email]

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:41 pm

My car had the metal front plate holder, when I got it, on a bit of an angle due to the odd nudge or three by previous owners.
Bought the black plastic screw-on plate holder from Mazda ($60 approx), then had my signwriter make up a reflective plate (white) with my number in red (full size) and did the same for the rear plate. (My car is red, so it looks like a personalised plate with a difference) $60 for the two...no probs so far (my original plates are in the boot)!