In 2001 the laws governing the display and supply of replacement number plates were greatly changed in order to tackle the problems of false plates and mis-spaced or illegible number plates.False plates are a problem to the police as criminals use them while committing crimes so that cctv camera footage is useless and illegible or mis-spaced number plates create problems for speed cameras and Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems used by the DVLA and congestion charging schemes.

Since the introduction of the new legislation all number plate suppliers have had to register with the DVLA and must put their name and postcode on each plate manufactured to enable traceability of every number plate. The supplier must inspect an approved type proof of entitlement and also approved proof of identity supplied by the customer and keep a record of both to be kept available for inspection by the police or trading standards officers.Failure to supply the above documents to the supplier will be met with a refusal to make up the number plates.

The layout and materials of number plates are also specified in the legislation , and must comply with british standard BS AU 145d which governs the reflectivity and durability of the materials. There is only one font which is legal and characters must be 79mm high and 50mm wide. The gaps between each figure must be 11mm except for the gap between the two blocks of digits which must be 33mm . There should be a minimum gap at the top , bottom and sides of 11mm.

Europlates are allowed with a choice of flags such as St Georges Cross , Saltire , Union Jack, or Red Dragon.

This legislation at present does not seem to apply to suppliers based in N.Ireland although there are plans for it to be made law there as well .