So general legal questions regarding L plates

[Untitled1995]

On a long ride down to Birmingham over the weekend my front L plate came off during the journey. I did not even notice it was missing until i got to my destination.

My back L plate is barely if even visible whatsoever (yes this needs changing i know). I had a police car behind me at the lights and they never pulled me.

So it got me curious can the police see if your a learner driver or not by checking your license plate?

According to the previous owner who i bought the motorcycle off he said that he never bothered with L plates and had done over 10,000 miles on the motorways on the bike without any problems just with a CBT.

Now that is just fucking stupid and i wouldn't stretch it that far as to riding on motorways.

So the question just out of curiosity can the police see if your a learner from checking your license plate? from what i can see all they should be able to see is that the vehicle is insured, taxed and has MOT.

Also what do the police do if your L plate comes off on the road?

[P.]

Points. You get points. Not worth the risk on your little lawnmower, you'll have to downgrade to bus/pedals when you get a few points.

No, they can't check. They can get insurance details and call them to ask who the insured party is, but I could be riding your bike on my TPO insurance as a test ride.

[rpsmith79]

Yes and No

They can check who the registered owner is from the reg plate and yes they can check said registered owners licence status, but that doesn't mean that the registered owner is riding it

[thx1138]

[Ste]

I see no reason to disbelieve the guy claiming his did 10k miles without L plates including going on motorways. There aren't huge numbers of traffic plod patrolling our motorways so if you're going at the general speed of the traffic and don't do anything to draw attention to yourself then there's no reason why you might get pulled over.

Pretty sure they've got to phone the DVLA if they want to find out if you've got a license and what type of license you've got.

I always found that L plates only "fall off" with a little bit of assistance so assuming you've attached it securely in the first place then you shouldn't need to worry about what the police would do if your L plate comes off.

In theory I suppose that if you're caught without one or both of your L plate then they shouldn't let you continue riding. And the only way to stop you from getting back on your bike as soon as they've driven away would be to get your bike recovered at your expense. Unless they're having a really bad day then you go out of your way to fail the attitude test then I'd expect them to be much more likely to give you a stern talking to and once you've given it the "yes sir no sir I'll never do it again sir" you'll be on your way hopefully without 3 points and a £60 fine for each L plate that's missing.

tl;dr do your test and get your full license.

[Dave70]

Having no L plate got mentioned to me by po po on two separate occasions.

Once after a crash (non fault) and the other after being caught speeding. Both times they turned a blind eye. Alas, the same couldn't be said for the speeding offence.
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There ain't no devil, there's just god when he's drunk.

2012: R125 killed by white van. 2016 R125 killed by 30,000 miles of redline. Current: 2016 Kawasaki ER6f.

[stinkwheel]

If I was both a policeman and a dick (there are a lot of dicks in the police force but if I was a copper, I'd be the biggest arsehole of all), I'd run the plates of any 125s I saw with no L-plates through the PNC while I was following them about far too closely trying to precipitate a road traffic violation. Because there aren't many people riding a 125 on a full licence. Balance of probability is that I get to go directly to ruining someones day without having to tailgate them for too long.

The offence is driving other than in accordance with your licence and it gets you 3 points and a £100 fixed penalty. It also loads your insurance more than normal speeding points.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Ste]

[dydey90]

Didn't Bodysocket tell us all that L plates were pointless, get done twice and couldn't pass his test for years because he'd get insta-banned for it?
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This post is probably not serious and shouldn't be taken literally.
Past: CBR125,ER6f NINJA 650, ZZR600 Current: VFR750

[mattyfattyboo...]

I got done when I was 17 on my scooter. On my way home from work, TrafPol pulled me, I was pretty unlucky. L Plate had snapped off on the way to work that morning, by time I finished at 5pm everywhere I could think of was shut so I just went home, about a mile from work. Just as I pulled into my street he pulled me. I had one on the front, explained the rear one snapped (about 25% of it was still screwed on) but he wasnt interested in my explanation.

£60 fine and 3 points Would be £100 now. Code was a LC20 IIRC, didnt make my insurance go up at all though, was just annoying doing my first 2 years in a car knowing if I got caught speeding it'd be bye bye licence.

Not worth the risk imo

[matto]

The 5-0 can see the registered keeper and all insured parties on a vehicle and are able to check with the DVLA for driving licenses at the roadside, including whether they have passed a CBT.

This is usually just on a tablet with some special app, they don't even have to use their radio and speak to a controller.

[Rogerborg]

[Recluso]

[Teflon-Mike]

[M.C]

[talkToTheHat]

Points and small fine. Potential hefty loading on insurance. It's an invitation for a cop in a bad mood to see what else you can be done for.

I've been caught with no reg plate or L plate and been let go to go search for them because I had license/insurance/cbt (or photocopies thereof under the seat) and generally passed the attitude test.

I've been pulled for avoiding a streak of oil in the road only to have a cop try to find something he could get me for. I don't think being pedantic about a 30 through a village with an unmarked police car mercilessly tailgating me did me much favours, neither did being bitterly sarcastic.

If you've got a loud can and found ways to tune or derestrict a 125 beyond 15bhp, no L plate can get you fucked right fast. If the bike is otherwise above board and there are remains of a damaged plate then it's probably not going to go too badly.
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Bandit. does. everything.

[Rogerborg]

[Untitled1995]

[rpsmith79]

[Ste]

Why would anyone need to carry spare L plates with them?

Just do your test, it's much less hassle then having a few spares under the seat,cooperating with pc plod and hoping that he's just going to let you ride away.

And given you've been banned already and have hefty unspent convictions then you're not going to pass the attitude test. Having your L plates under your seat rather than on the bike seems a really fucking stupid thing to push your luck with.

[Fizzoid]

[Untitled1995]

[Rogerborg]

[mudcow007]

I rode my CG for nearly 2 years with no L plates, no kittens were harmed.

Maybe I didnt get pulled because they felt sorry for me?

[Raffles]