48-hour warning issued ahead of DVLA change rolling out on Sunday

A two-day warning has been issued ahead of a DVLA change from Sunday. The DVLA's new September number plates are set to be rolled out this weekend as August comes to a close and September, the ninth month of the year, begins in earnest.

Motorists in England, Scotland and Wales will see the new numbers next week, as the first 74 plates hit the road on September 1. Drivers and road users must make sure their own licence plates adhere to specifications in order to be road legal.

Those that do not comply with rules could be hit with a £1,000 fine. The DVLA warns: “Number plates (also known as licence plates) must show your registration number correctly. You cannot rearrange letters or numbers, or alter them so that they’re hard to read.

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"You could be fined up to £1,000 and your vehicle will fail its MOT test if you drive with incorrectly displayed number plates." These are the rules you should be aware of around licence plates from the DVLA, the motoring group explains.

The number plates on your vehicle must be made from a reflective material, display black characters on a white background (front plate), display black characters on a yellow background (rear plate) and not have a background pattern.

Plates must be marked to show who supplied the number plate and be marked with a British Standard number - this is ‘BS AU 145e’ for plates fitted after 1 September 2021. The characters must not be removable or reflective. If your number plates were fitted after 1 September 2021, they must also be a single shade of black.

Your number plates can also have 3D (raised) characters and display certain flags, symbols and identifiers as well as display a green flash, if you have a zero-emission vehicle, the DVLA says.