Vehicles constructed before the 1st January 1973

If your vehicle was constructed before the 1st January 1973, you are permitted to fit to it traditional style number plates. These are either white, silver or grey characters on a black plate. They are not restricted to, but are generally metal plates with the characters embossed. You may use modern style number plates.

The number plate characters must conform to either one of the two groups in the table below (the characters permitted have two valid sizes):

Group 1Group 2
Character height 89mm 79mm
Character width (except the figure 1or letter l) 64mm 57mm
Stroke (thickness) 16mm 14mm
Side margin 25mm 11mm
Top & bottom margin 13mm 11mm
Space between characters 13mm 11mm
Space between two parts of registration (ABC<->12A)38mm 33mm

Traditional number plates fitted to such vehicles are not required to display the mandatory character font, but the characters must be legible.

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