DVLA number plates - Issuing authority regulations

In the UK, number plates are issued by the DVLA. That is the government body that deals with all administrative tasks involving driver and vehicle licensing and registration.

DVLA works with the police to combat crimes involving vehicles, including offences such as number plate cloning, fine evasion, speeding and more. One of the tools used in detection is a system known as ANPR or Automatic Number Plate Recognition. In this system, a special camera that can recognise numbers and letters works with the DVLA number plates database. If a vehicle is identified as being involved in a crime, or if it has been photographed speeding or evading congestion charges etc then the registration will lead police to the owner.

Obviously, for such a system to work effectively, it is necessary for the characters on number plates to be easily readable by the camera system. To this end, a mandatory font has been adopted, and in the UK only this font may be used on number plates displayed by cars using the public highway. The mandatory font is known as "Charles Wright 2001".

Not only is the font specified by regulations, but also the other diplay properties of number plates. The characters must be of regulation size and spacing, and no other decoration may appear on the pate except for the various UK flags and a coloured border if desired.