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Written question asked by Richard Holden (Conservative) on Thursday, 18 December 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 5 January 2026. It was answered by Simon Lightwood (Labour) on Friday, 9 January 2026 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Vehicle Number Plates: Standards

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what engagement her Department has had with the British Standards Institute’s review of BS AU 145e; and what assessment she has made of proposals to ban raised 3D and 4D number plates.

Answer

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is part of the British Standard Institute committee that has recently reviewed the current standard for number plates. The committee has put forward proposed amendments which are intended to stop the production of number plates with raised characters often referred to as 3D or 4D number plates and will prevent easy access to plates with ‘ghost’ characteristics. The proposals will also prevent suppliers from adding acrylic letters and numbers to the surface of the number, meaning any finished number plate must be flat. The proposed changes have been subject to a public consultation which closed on 13 December 2025.

The Government has set out its intention in the Road Safety Strategy to consult on addressing the growing problem of illegal number plates, including ‘ghost’ number plates.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
101470
Session
2024-26
Related items
Deposited Paper DEP2026-0008
Wednesday, 7 January 2026
Deposited papers
House of Commons
Subjects
British Standards Institution Standards Vehicle number plates
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk