Driving with L plates

[NewYearsPudding]

So DS is driving and the car has L plates on. I assume I am ok to drive without removing the L plates every time? I am a bit concerned as I go up the motorway on my commute.

No, you should cover or remove them when you drive or you risk being stopped by the police.
When I learned I had magnetic ones that were easily removed and re-applied.

Absolutely not! Try looking in the Highway Code for your answer rather than seeking validation here. You will (hopefully) be fined if caught.

Definitely not with L plates, no. I share a car with DD and drove it with R plates on however (NI rule - limited to 45mph for the first year, even on motorways!!). Went past many police cars etc above the R plate speed limit and never had any issues.

I found that people drove very aggressively since they thought I was a new driver. Nightmare getting out at junctions, needlessly being overtaken etc. Definitely wouldn’t want to be going round on L plates..!

People do it all the time but you are definitely supposed to take them off. How hard can it be though? They are just magnetic surely?

They need removing. Have you got magnetic ones? I know they don't work on all cars though- Toyota Aygo mark 1 im looking at you 👀

Most are just a peel on/off plastic film. A bit fiddly and I can see why you’d be tempted to just leave them on.

You should remove them, it's easy to do.

The fully magnetic plates are best. We found the others liable to fall off.

I did forget once and drove with the L plates on and definitely noticed other drivers giving me more space, etc, though.

Haven't seen these - the L (and now P) plates we've had have all been the magnetic ones.

You aren’t meant to, when I had motorway lessons after passing, my instructor removed the sign on top

There is no metal on the back of the car so that one is stuck on.

That does make it more difficult but legally you are meant to remove (or cover) them.

Highway code says no you must take them off. Magnetic plates don't stick to our electric car either though. It's going to be an increasingly common problem.

Absolutely not.

My DD learned to drive in a car with plastic panels so we had to use electricians tape to secure the plates each time she went out and remove when I was driving.

Why not stick the plates on properly and use the electrical tape to cross out the L?

If you drive on the motorway with L plates you will flag the overhead cameras and I expect a police car will then flag you down pretty sharpish.

I don't know about that, surely that can't happen every time an instructor takes a learner on the motorway. And it didn't happen through once or twice we have done it accidentally.

But definitely not a choice I would make.

Learners aren't allowed on the motorway.

They are with a qualified instructor.

Thanks, didn't realise that.

I imagine that would generally (maybe not always) be in an obvious driving school vehicle, though.

And if there's only one person in the car it's clearly not being driven by a learner. Or shouldn't be!

Your knowledge of the highway code is out of date. This changed back in 2018.

fair point on the single driver though!

Yes, I realise that now 😄

We're not close to a motorway so it wasn't an issue when DD was learning - just a busy dual carriageway.

DD had a C1, magnetic weren’t any good as plastic bumpers on the back, so we stuck them to the boot window near the bottom. I taped over it whenever I drove it. Once she passed we used rubbing alcohol to remove the residue off the glass. Better this than damage the paintwork we thought.

L plates and a single occupant in the car will definitely be flagged by motorway police. Unless the OP has someone else in the car who is not a child she should attract the attention of the motorway police or even other road users.

We had this problem with my Toyota Yaris as I use it every day and was taking DS out every evening but managed to get the back magnetic plate on by tucking the corner of it slightly behind the number plate (bought stick on ones for the actual test). It is a pain though.