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My wife was recently pulled for having L plates on the car and told to remove them by the police officer. She removed them and we have since been using the magnetic ones. The trouble is.
1) They keep blowing off. Both were gone by the time I got back with the daughter after taking her out for 30 mins.
2) As a cyclist I get really p!ssed off when I see litter on my rides, so knowing I have just added 2 L plates to the ever mountain of road side crap leaves me annoyed.
Now, I couldn't see any law which states you must not have them on the car if the car is not being driven by a provisional licence holder, so am thinking of just getting the sticky ones again and leaving them on. Anyone able to shed any light whether I can just tell said copper that there is no law and I have an issue with having them blowing off over 40 mph?
With any luck your old magnetic ones won't end up at the side of the road. They'll get blown onto Prince Philips' next motor...
From the Gov.uk website:
"Laws MV(DL)R reg 16 & RTA 1988 sect 87
Vehicles. Any vehicle driven by a learner MUST display red L plates. In Wales, either red D plates, red L plates, or both, can be used. Plates MUST conform to legal specifications and MUST be clearly visible to others from in front of the vehicle and from behind. Plates should be removed or covered when not being driven by a learner (except on driving school vehicles)."
Should, not must. So you can leave them on.
Coppper’s a knob, don’t see driving school cars removing all the L plate stuff when driving to or from a client.
As above "should".
The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 sect 100 and the Road Traffic Act 1988 sect 40A deal with motor vehicle accessories causing a danger of injury, now that is illegal 🙂
Cyclist is hit by a flying L plate (or D plate in Wales) and falls off/swerves...
Should, not must. So you can leave them on.
Therefore: you should take them off...
Coppper’s a knob, don’t see driving school cars removing all the L plate stuff when driving to or from a client.
That was what I though when she told me he pulled her over.
Given the wording 'should' and this
Act 1988 sect 40A deal with motor vehicle accessories causing a danger of injury, now that is illegal 🙂
going to get some sticker ones back one.
cheers all
Copper Nob ?
🥳🔥
It’s a shame you can’t get removable ones to work. I view should as to mean you should. And for a good reason - if you want your daughter and all other learners to be given a bit of extra allowance and caution of others around her to make errors you need to ensure the symbol is not diluted. A few rare earth coin sized magnets covered in tape (to protect your paint) on the car first and the magnetic L plates stuck to those? Or sticky ones without the backing removed held on by a rare earth at each corner?
STW logic....
“You should remove them”
“Yeah, that means you don’t need to remove them”
🤔
Stick a piece of tape across the L plate, we do this at work on our HGVs when not been driven by a learner.
It's interesting, as I'm going to leave them on my little motorbike, even after I've passed, so that no-one is under any impression that it's quick!
The lady committed a moving driving offence the officer stopped her as he is entitled to, and see if he could smell cannabis or alchohol on her breath.
Why not gaffer tape them on, and you have notified your insurance company youre offering driving tuition and your daughter is a named driver on the vehicle insurance, havent you.
When I was learning I had magnetic L plates which were just an entire sheet of magnet, not just a couple of bars of it. They never came off. Get some better magnetic plates.
you have notified your insurance company youre offering driving tuition
Pretty sure that's not a requirement.
As above, some cheapo plates just have a couple of magnetic bars. Decent ones are all magnetic and much thicker.
... an entire sheet of magnet,...
Mine were all like ^^^ but they still fell off so I just sellotaped them top and bottom when driving.
Magnetic ones worked fine on the twingo. I drove to work with them on along the M4. I didn’t commit and offence. There is a difference between should and must. It covers the above eventuality. She shouldn’t have been pulled over as she didn’t commit an offence.
TW logic….
“You should remove them”
“Yeah, that means you don’t need to remove them”
… but this is true though, "should remove" rather than "must remove", so it is a recommendation rather than an obligation. So, go back to plan-A, buy the sticky version and carry a copy of the Highway Code in the vehicle so you can 'discuss' with the PC if they stop you again.
As long as she's on the car insurance as a named driver with a provisional licence and no access to another vehicle it will be taken into account.
If that hasn't been done, it's a different offence even with L plates when under instruction. Sure that's not the case 😊
if you want your daughter and all other learners to be given a bit of extra allowance and caution of others around her to make errors you need to ensure the symbol is not diluted.
Other than the first few times on the public road most learners are going to be safer drivers than the non-learners as they are at least trying to drive correctly so maybe keeping the plates on may be a good idea.
… but this is true though, “should remove” rather than “must remove”,
But you don't have to remove them...you can remove them, or cover them up or do anything else your imagination can come up with to obscure them...the point is you have to not have them on show and the instruction is just to not have them on show. The Highway Code says you Should remove or cover up...It doesn't say you should remove, coverup or do sweet FA. This was clear 20 years ago when I was learning and seems quite an obvious instruction to me
And the formal definition of 'Should in this context is: "To indicate OBLIGATION, DUTY or CORRECTNESS...." So doing nothing does not come into it at all.
So doing nothing does not come into it at all.
Sure it does.
There's plenty of things you "should" (and shouldn't) do. You should do 30 minutes' exercise a day. You should eat five portions of fruit and veg. You shouldn't drink more than whatever it is units of alcohol per week. Do you do all those things?
You MUST display L plates as a learner - it's a legal requirement. You SHOULD remove them when a learner isn't driving, but you don't have to. Ever see a driving instructor remove their plates when driving between students? Me neither.
Yes, but the ‘advice’ covers that if you read the thread.
So we have endless threads about how the police do nothing about unlicenced and dangerous drivers. Then one tries to do something and we have another thread complaining about it.
Can't please some people.
So we have endless threads about how the police do nothing about unlicenced and dangerous drivers. Then one tries to do something and we have another thread complaining about it.
Can’t please some people.
Because in the case of the highway code "must" indicates a law you have to comply with, "should" indicates a rule that isn't law. For example the whole section on overtaking is written as "you should(n't) " apart from the bits about solid lines, or no overtaking signs which are "you must (not)".
As a more important example (for cyclists) removing L plates is a "should" as is wearing a helmet and reflective clothing. Would you accept being pulled over by the police for not wearing a helmet?
59. Clothing. You should wear
● a cycle helmet which conforms to current regulations, is the
correct size and securely fastened
● appropriate clothes for cycling. Avoid clothes which may get
tangled in the chain, or in a wheel or may obscure your
lights
● light‑coloured or fluorescent clothing which helps other road
users to see you in daylight and poor light
● reflective clothing and/or accessories (belt, arm or ankle
bands) in the dark.
Way to miss the point entirely.
If you've been banned and told to retake your test then you have to reapply for a provisional licence. It's not unheard of for people to consider this a bit of a faff, and to drive on a provisional with L plates. The risk of being caught is low.
So I personally would applaud a PC going "hmm, looks a bit dodgy, let's ask what's going on". And then saying "to avoid this trouble in the future it might be easier to cover the L plates".
To the best of my knowledge nobody has ever been sentenced to six months riding without a helmet, so not an appropriate comparison.
To the best of my knowledge nobody has ever been sentenced to six months riding without a helmet, so not an appropriate comparison.
To the best of my knowledge no one's been done for driving with L-plates when not a learner.
Way to miss the point entirely.
No the point is both are things you "should" do, but aren't breaking any specific law if you don't comply with them. Nothing to do with unlicensed drivers.
No the point is both are things you “should” do, but aren’t breaking any specific law if you don’t comply with them.
Though it's often (I imagine more so than it actually happens) pointed out that failure to be wearing any of those things is used to mitigate the responsibility of drivers.
No you don't have to do it but you don't have to wipe your backside or wash your hands after you've been to the loo but i don't suppose many would be telling you to ignore the person who told you to do it.
If your wife did [or regularly does] something to warrant being pulled over whilst displaying L plates (eg driving alone on the motorway, driving nervously, stalling repeatedly etc) it's probably for the best to use something easily removed simply to get rid of the hassle. No she's not likely to go to court for it but it's simply not worth the hassle (or the being blamed because someone HAD to overtake into the oncoming tractor because she's a learner and everyone does that, so it's her fault).
As above a few rare earth magnets (I'd put them on top of the L plate rather than messing with covering them personally) or tape over the L etc.
Life is too short.
Get some lumps of blue tack and fix them inside the front and rear windowze.
Easy to remove when not needed.
No paintwork to damage with sticky plates.
No damage to paintwork from rare earth magnets crushing minute objects into the paintwork.
Simples.
No charge. Thank You.
Simply carry a roll of red tape with you at all times. This way you can turn the L in to other letters, shapes, possibly even numbers. Get creative and combine a shape at the front with a letter at the back. Fun for all the family!
https://www.comparethemarket.com/car-insurance/content/can-i-learn-to-drive-in-my-parents-car/
as i said above you need to tellinsurance co that your daughter is a named driver and pay the extra premium
Put some adhesive L-plates on, then cover them up when not in use with some blank magnetic sheets?