news Number plate change for Historic vehicles

[Nick Johns]

Seems to have been kept quiet but DVLA have announced all 40year old Historic registered tax exempt vehicles can now display old style Black & White or Silver number plates, previously the cut off date was fixed at pre Jan.1973 vehicles only.

 

http://www.tippersvintageplates.co.uk/

Edited December 5, 2015 by Nick Johns

[.303fan]

I just got a set of metal plates for my 1975 series3. I had the choice of getting black and silvers but stayed with the original colours.

[utt61]

Since the DVLA cannot have made this decision (the date is defined in an act of Parliament), does anyone know from which recent legislation the change originates?

[arcot1751]

This is on the DVLA website, not sure why they've done it to be honest as if people want to keep their vehicles "original" black and silver plates on vehicles which never had them when new look plainly wrong HOWEVER for the military vehicles it looks better :-D

[sirhc]

https://insidedvla.blog.gov.uk/2015/11/17/whats-the-story-with-black-and-silver-number-plates/

[utt61]

Some research has added, perhaps, a little clarity to the situation.

 

Prior to 2001 only a vehicle first registered before 1 Jan 1973 could display black and silver registration plates.

 

From 2001 until 2015 there was an extension which allowed a vehicle built prior to 1/1/1973 but not registered until after this date also to display black and silver plates.

 

From April 2015, a vehicle which is taxed as an Historic Vehicle but which was built after 1/1/1973 is also allowed to display black and silver number plates (so the rolling 40-year cut-off now applies to such vehicles).

 

The change came about because of a provision in the Finance Bill 2014 and subsequent Finance Acts which altered the Historic Vehicle class cut-off year from 1973 firstly to 1974 and later to a rolling forty years. The wording of the legislation had the (probably completely unintended) effect of linking the HV tax class to permission to display black and silver plates.

 

The original legislation remains unaffected, so it is good news for those with pre-1973 vehicles which are ineligible for taxing as HV (for example pre-1973 vehicles still used in connection with a trade or business) who do not, as suggested by the DVLA's appallingly confusing and contradictory website, have to fit reflective plates.

 

Quite why anyone with a post-1973 but older-than-40-years vehicle (other than an MV where I can see the obvious benefit) would want to replace an original reflective plate with a black and silver plate escapes me, but doubtless there will be those with 'vanity plates' who want to do so!

 

I cannot believe that this was an intended consequence of the Finance Bill!