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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Why don't people clean their number plates

131 replies

Sportslady44 · 19/01/2022 00:08

Saw a disgusting car yesterday. The number plate was thick with black dirt and you couldn't read the back number plate.

Surely they realise. Why don't they clean the car? What happens if they are in an accident and you can't read the plate?

OP posts:

MsAgnesDiPesto · 19/01/2022 09:47

@JugglingJanuary

Takes seconds to wipe your plates and lights. Life’s to short to die cause your lights are filthy and you can’t see

@somewhereovertherain

How exactly is a number plate in ANY way comparable to a number plate?

Hint: it's NOT!!

Enjoy explaining that to a magistrate when you contest your £1,000 fine.

What you think should be the law and what the law is are two different things.

If all of you who say you don’t have time to maintain your cars got a piece of kitchen roll and went outside now and wiped your plates instead of making your next post on this thread, the job would be done, for today at least.

JugglingJanuary · 19/01/2022 09:50

@Whitefire

Surely a number plate is not going to get so dirty in one journey to render it unreadable, it takes a lot of build up to get to that point.

I drive on some mucky roads, and it is worse when I get behind a quarry wagon, but even then it is not unreadable in an instant.

As I've said MINE DOES. The road is filthy. The front plate isn't as bad as the back one, but the back one is unreadable after one trip up or down it, I go 4x per day and I'm not pissing about washing it 4x per day.

I do the lights because that's a safety issue & they wipe clean because they do smooth. The number plates aren't a safety issue and need a better scrub.

JugglingJanuary · 19/01/2022 10:02

@MsAgnesDiPesto

I 'maintain my car' thank you very much. I clean the lights because it's a safety issue, not cleaning the number plate does not affect safety, not one little bit.

What you think should be the law and what the law is are two different things

I never once said anything about the law...so no idea what you're yapping on about there.

I'm not going to be washing my number plates in excess of 4x per day! To get them clean they need more than a wipe with a piece of paper towel.

JugglingJanuary · 19/01/2022 10:03

@MsAgnesDiPesto. ...and no, it won't be 'that done for today' it'll be that done until I go out again!

Lipsandlashes · 19/01/2022 10:13

I 'maintain my car' thank you very much. I clean the lights because it's a safety issue, not cleaning the number plate does not affect safety, not one little bit.
What part of “it is illegal” are you not understanding?

MsAgnesDiPesto · 19/01/2022 10:14

[quote JugglingJanuary]@MsAgnesDiPesto

I 'maintain my car' thank you very much. I clean the lights because it's a safety issue, not cleaning the number plate does not affect safety, not one little bit.

What you think should be the law and what the law is are two different things

I never once said anything about the law...so no idea what you're yapping on about there.

I'm not going to be washing my number plates in excess of 4x per day! To get them clean they need more than a wipe with a piece of paper towel.[/quote]
So you have a wet cloth in your hand which you could run over your number plates at the same time as your lights, but are ideologically opposed to doing so?

Nuts.

Pat123dev · 19/01/2022 10:29

Mines gets filthy before I notice- I carwash mine once a week (only for something to do while DC is in a club ....) We're quite rural, it's muddy by time I get home this time of year.
Definitely no anpr dodging....
I'll wipe it if I notice.

Croissantly · 19/01/2022 10:45

[quote JugglingJanuary]@MsAgnesDiPesto

I 'maintain my car' thank you very much. I clean the lights because it's a safety issue, not cleaning the number plate does not affect safety, not one little bit.

What you think should be the law and what the law is are two different things

I never once said anything about the law...so no idea what you're yapping on about there.

I'm not going to be washing my number plates in excess of 4x per day! To get them clean they need more than a wipe with a piece of paper towel.[/quote]
If they're unreadable it is against the law and people do get pulled over and fined. If you can't be arsed to clean them when they get to this point then perhaps car ownership isn't for you.

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 19/01/2022 10:47

@Sportslady44

I meant if they cause an accident and say drove off you wouldn't get the plate.

The kind of person who would drive off isn't going to care if you can read their plate.

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 19/01/2022 10:52

Enjoy explaining that to a magistrate when you contest your £1,000 fine.
I am willing to bet no-one has ever been fined £1000. That is the maximum possible fine.

Around here the youngsters don't have front number plates any more and any time I go out there are dozens of illegally spaced and/or deliberately darkened plates.

There is close to zero enforcement. Thanks Tory "Law and Order" austerity cuts.

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 19/01/2022 10:54

It's illegal to not be able to read it. You often see filthy cars with just the number plate wiped clean!

gsaoej · 19/01/2022 10:59

I expect people are overwhelmed and that’s why wiping the number plate is a very low priority.

Croissantly · 19/01/2022 12:18

@gsaoej

I expect people are overwhelmed and that’s why wiping the number plate is a very low priority.

They don't have to be kept spotless but just legible, for most people that means wiping them down every now and again, not before/after every journey or anything. If people are too overwhelmed to keep their car legal then perhaps they should not be driving.

MintJulia · 19/01/2022 12:22

Gosh there are a lot of people on here who get wound up about other people's cars.

I can vouch for the fact that one of the old model Golfs was perfectly shaped to cover the rear plate in muck in about 5 miles of dirty road.

Anyway for those who are really bothered about this stuff, I have just nipped out between con calls and wiped my plates. So one less on the roads.

BrightYellowDaffodil · 19/01/2022 12:44

The police will stop you if your number plate is too dirty and they see you. I know

My number plate is usually filthy because I drive on farm tracks and dirty roads in winter. Sometimes I remember to clean it, sometimes I don't. On the occasion I got stopped, the car had been wet and it looked clean enough. I guess it looked different when it dried.

Flingingmelon · 19/01/2022 12:46

I was stopped by the police. Mortified.

I now drive around all winter with windows, lights and number plates wiped. Everything else stays as muddy as the roads.

MsAgnesDiPesto · 19/01/2022 14:04

@MintJulia

Gosh there are a lot of people on here who get wound up about other people's cars.

I can vouch for the fact that one of the old model Golfs was perfectly shaped to cover the rear plate in muck in about 5 miles of dirty road.

Anyway for those who are really bothered about this stuff, I have just nipped out between con calls and wiped my plates. So one less on the roads.

Well done!

I am invested in this sort of thing because it tends to be the same people who ignore this sort of thing who also don’t check if their washer bottle is full before they go out, and end up not being able to see properly on the motorway when it runs out, and cause a danger to other people, or never check to se if any of their lights have gone and thus cause other safety issues too. That’s my business as much as it’s theirs, if they then pose a risk to me. Cars aren’t magic things that just keep going without any input from drivers, much as they try to pretend they are!

Sartre · 19/01/2022 14:06

We don’t clean our car because we live in the countryside and there’s honestly just no point. We’d be cleaning it only for it to get muddy the following day.

Douchebaggette · 19/01/2022 14:13

Also live rurally here.

I wipe the plates and headlights every so often but otherwise it won't get cleaned until I know the bad weather has passed (maybe April?).

If I clean it, it's just dirty again within days otherwise.

jc12689 · 20/01/2022 13:03

I avoid cleaning my car as it’s a horrible job and I don’t actually care if my car is clean or dirty. If I promise to stop and exchange details in the event of an accident, please may I be excused?

No because as other have said it's an offence not to have a legible number plate

Undertheoldlindentree · 20/01/2022 13:04

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

I'm another who lives rurally so I never bother cleaning my car in winter. I don't even look at my number plates to notice whether the writing is still legible either!

I'm also a dog walker and drive down filthy country lanes and park in isolated areas where the parking is just a mud pit by the side of the road

I would need to clean my car after each walk to stop it looking filthy and I have much better things to do with my time!

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

If you have time to faff about with the stuff in your username, let alone keep and walk dogs, you have plenty of time to get a damp cloth/paper towel/wipe and clean your numberplate and lights regularly.

How self-absorbed do you have to be to ignore rules that are in place for the safety of everyone on the road? You need to be accountable when behind the wheel of more than a ton of fast-moving moving machinery. Why else would it be a legal obligation?

I'm wondering what other laws you ignore because you think you have much better things to do with your time ?

Stupendously dim behavior.

BigYellowHat · 20/01/2022 13:19

I’ve just moved into a new build and quite literally live on a building site. Our car is so filthy right now 😢 However, there’s no point cleaning it because it’ll be dirty again in 5 minutes 🤷‍♀️

VapeVamp12 · 20/01/2022 13:27

THis time of year with the gritting on roads, spray on the motorway etc my cars gets so filthy so quickly that when I cleaned it on Sunday my number plate was almost unreadable. But i do a lot of motorway miles so maybe thats why.

Shade17 · 20/01/2022 16:03

I’ve been pulled for a filthy rear plate before, very friendly chat and obviously cleaned the plate. I think you’d have to fail the attitude test or catch the copper in a bad mood for action to be taken against you though. Definitely one of those situations where words of advice serve a much better purpose than a fine.

BlueEyesUltimateDragon · 20/01/2022 16:06

I saw a car pulled over last night by police which was completely covered in dirt and license plate unreadable. They passed me again later with the plate cleaned so I'm assuming they were pulled over for it. I think there is quite a difference between a dirty licence plate and an unreadable one

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