Number Plate MOT Failure: Faded, Damaged and Illegal Plates

Number plates are the very first thing in the MOT manual, section 0.1, and they cause more failures than people expect. A plate does not have to be a novelty show plate to fail: a tired, peeling one can do it on its own.

In short: Every number plate defect in section 0.1 is Major: a plate missing or about to fall off (a), lettering missing or illegible (b), the wrong registration (c), or a plate that does not meet the legal requirements (d). Faded, delaminated or obscured plates, and illegal fonts or spacing, all fail.

What Makes a Plate Fail

The manual says plates must not be obscured, excessively damaged, deteriorated or delaminated. That last one matters more than it sounds: when the reflective layer lifts, number plate recognition cameras see the damaged area as black, so a plate that looks fine to you can be unreadable to a camera. Anything stuck or bolted in front of the plate counts as obscuring it, and testers pay particular attention to fixing screws placed so they change how a character reads.

The front and rear plates must also show the same registration.

The Rules on Style

• Characters must be the correct size, stroke width and spacing, and must not be italic, sloping, or made of broken or multiple strokes.
• Raised or 3D characters are allowed.
• No background patterns, overprinting, tints or films.
• No honeycomb-effect background on vehicles first registered from 1 September 2001.
• An optional border is allowed: no wider than 6mm and at least 5mm from the characters on vehicles first used before 1 September 2021, or no wider than 5mm and at least 10mm from the characters on vehicles first used from that date.
• Grey highlighting on the characters is only allowed on vehicles first used before 1 September 2021.

Green flashes for zero-emission cars are a separate set of rules: see our post on green number plates. And if you have ever wondered what the letters and numbers mean, we covered what the characters on a number plate mean too.

Getting a Replacement Plate

Replacement plates have to come from a supplier registered with the DVLA, and they will ask to see proof that you are entitled to the registration, usually your V5C log book, plus ID. Bring both if you are getting a plate made on the way to a retest. While you are at the back of the car, check the plate lamps work: a dead plate lamp is a separate MOT item.

Towbars and Bike Racks

A towbar that hides the plate is dealt with under the towbar section of the test rather than the plate section: a towbar obstructing the plate is a Minor defect (6.1.6 (f) (i)), and one that makes the plate unreadable is Major (6.1.6 (f) (ii)). Remove any bike rack before the test so the plate and lamps can be seen.

Booked In Soon?

Not sure whether your plate will pass? Any of our 12 branches across Nottinghamshire can take a look, and with over 20,000 MOT tests a year behind us there is not much we have not seen. We will show you what we found, explain it in plain English and confirm the price before any work starts. Book an MOT online when you are ready.

A plate peeling and delaminating along its top edge, with a fixing screw driven through a character.

A fixing cap sitting inside a character. Testers check fixings do not change how a character reads.

A front plate cracked around its fixing, with a stone strike beside it. Damage like this only gets worse.

Frequently asked questions

Can a number plate fail an MOT?

Yes. Every plate defect in section 0.1 is Major: missing or insecure plates, lettering that is missing or illegible, the wrong registration, or a plate that does not meet the legal requirements.

Will a faded or peeling number plate fail?

It can. Plates must not be excessively damaged, deteriorated or delaminated, and lifting reflective film can make the plate unreadable to number plate recognition cameras.

Are 3D or raised number plates MOT legal?

Raised or 3D characters are allowed, provided the characters are the correct size, stroke width and spacing. Grey highlighting to create a 3D effect is only allowed on vehicles first used before 1 September 2021.

Can screws on a number plate fail the MOT?

Yes, if they change the appearance or legibility of a character. A screw head in the middle of a letter can make it read as something else, so testers check where the fixings are.