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        General >> Problems >> The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
        
(Message started by: dave_ryman on Aug 27^th, 2008, 4:02am)

Title: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by dave_ryman on Aug 27^th, 2008, 4:02am

>:(

I mentioned the beginning of this story in an earlier post, but thought it deserved a thread of it's own (was rather going to go OT).

I bought by car a month ago with a rather yucky "Eng-er-laand" sticker on the numberplates. Since the plates were a little tired anyway, I thought I'd get them replaced by nice shiny new ones, since I know how much this can lift a car's appearence.

So I went to my local trusty ( ;)) Halfords and ordered a nice pair of 3D-effect plates with borders. In order to save myself losing out if I screwed things up, I paid them to fit them.

I got a phone-call a few days later, and went round for a fitting. The first he fitted at an angle, and thought it was ok. When I told him it wasn't, he then drilled another hole, thankfully in the numberplate, and remounted it - but now the thing's got a spare hole. The rear plate then got mounted - warped (he had drilled the holes in the plate too far apart). Anyway, having reordered the front plate for me, he then proceeded to reorder the rear plate, and I then waited for phone-call 2...

... which I got a few days later. The new plates had arrived. Hurrah! I turned up, and they had lost them. Oh well, set number 3 placed on order...

... or so I thought. The order never materialised. I chased them and chased them, and eventually got tired of phoning them. So last week I went in, and they apologised a lot, and then placed a fresh order.

I got a phone call over the weekend, and went in to have them fitted today. They were well prepared, shiny and perfect. Thing is, I never bothered to get them to fit them, since the number they've printed on them was wrong. Not just wrong, but the combination of letters and numbers didn't even amount to a legal UK license plate!

Here the saga ends, I demanded a full refund. All I've got to do now is to find someone who can do the job properly.

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by Snoopy on Aug 27^th, 2008, 8:24am

Go to any local motor factors with the required documentation and they will make them for you .... Also get some strong double sided number plate tape and use that to stick them on .. Use four strips on each one ..... VERY difficult to pull off and much neater

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by martin_rowe on Aug 27^th, 2008, 8:41am

Sorry, dont know why people thing that only Halfords can suply / fit things like this, the majority of staff are fresh out of school (Mc D's rejects) with little or no training / experiance. Find yourself a good independant garage that will look after your vehicle correctly & would probably have supplied / fitted the plates at better price.

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by Scorpio_Mike on Aug 27^th, 2008, 10:06am

I had a similar experience from Halfords many years ago with number plates - the McD reject managed to do a pair of plates which BOTH had the numbers and letters the wrong way round !
Would never use them again on principle - always go to my local motor factors now that you can't buy them off ebay for legal use.

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by derbylatic on Aug 27^th, 2008, 10:20am

i had one aswell
ordered number plates around 1988 for a ford capri HALFORDS staff came out took my number on their order form i had only just got the car so didn't know the reg off by heart
4 hours later went to pick them up never checked number before fitting them plonker i know
next morning at 5 am on way to work get pulled by plod and he was arresting me for driving a ford capri that was showing as a yellow ford escort estate on the pnc
my fault really for not checking
anyway explained to plod about new plates etc and had to go after work to sort it with HALFORDS
capri reg was omb 440y HALFORDS plates number took by their Mc reject omb 44y

never been there for anything since

This post is edited because of the use of Incorrect words which are highlighted by CAPS .....

Please read THIS (http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Advice;action=display;num=1143273574) and note the contents . Any further breach of the rules WILL result in censure !

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by Waglet on Aug 27^th, 2008, 10:45am

Have I missed something? Why can't ebay supplied plates be used if they are the right size font etc? I've just put plain and simple plates on the Scorp supplied by plates123 on ebay, they look great but now am worried I'm illegal!

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by Scorpio_Mike on Aug 27^th, 2008, 11:43am

My understanding is that plates are only legal if supplied by a company which is licensed to produce plates and that the correct documentaion was provided at the time of purchase ???

The plates sold on ebay always state 'For show use only' - even though legal format and size.

Think this only changed quite recently.

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by Savvy on Aug 27^th, 2008, 11:44am

you need to make sure of a few things with numbers when ordering through ebay (or anywhere where you don't need to show documentation!)
they have to have the BS15aud (or something to that effect) code on the bottom right of the plate. If you're car is post 2001 I believe. This means they've been made to British Standard.
Secondly, the middle of the plate needs to state who made up the plates or can be their web address. It also must include a postcode.
Finally, of course, the font and spacing needs to be correct.

I ordered some plates from crazyplates.co.uk for 1.99 through ebay. They include the web address, post code and print on the BS15aud code and I've passed MoT's with about 6 cars with them on!

Halfords do very good double sided pads for number plates, good for all sorts of things too. I keep loads spare at home and find they are perfect for number plates. I don't like holes being drilled through plates because at some point air or water will seep in and distort the fonts. Plus it's extra effort that isn't really necessary!

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by bizzay1 on Aug 27^th, 2008, 1:10pm

True they are sold as show plates - but I ran my last scorp on a set from ebay with a personal message on top & bottom & a badge at each end of the number, never got pulled or failed an mot but I suppose if plod had a bad night or something and wanted to be picky they could do you

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by matt1987 on Aug 27^th, 2008, 7:28pm

you can have any type of plate for the mot as long as you can read the letters it can be bold, 3d, italic etc

i had this problem with my old car 3d text and darken, mot man couldnt fail them pc plod could nick me and fine me 30notes and make me produce all docs and get them changed.

hope this clears up any ideas or worries

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by Snoopy on Aug 27^th, 2008, 7:37pm

Quote:

you can have any type of plate for the mot as long as you can read the letters it can be bold, 3d, italic etc

Is incorrect , the fact that an MOT tester does NOT enforce the regulations is to say the least, some good fortune.
The Registration plates must conform to the regulations for the MOT as shown HERE (http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_630.htm)

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by grandadman on Aug 28^th, 2008, 2:20pm

Quickie BE AWARE:
I found that I could use these double sided stickers for the from plate BUT,
I couldn't use them for the back or I would loose access to the rear number plate illumination light/s for future replacement if a bulb failed So I had to use the appropriate coloured plastic nut and bolt fixings 8)

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by TiberiuS on Aug 28^th, 2008, 7:10pm

Halfords is alright, depends what you want from there. If you want a tin of paint, bulb, fuse, spanner, bottle of polish or oil then they're fine. If you want something more involved then it's better to go somewhere else, had the duff battery and car cover thing and that was enough, twice bitten and all that :).

Title: Re: The Halford's number plate fiasco - in full
Post by matt1987 on Aug 28^th, 2008, 11:05pm

there was a shake up on the style of plates a few months ago the mot tester i work with has been testing for over 35yrs and he cant fail it aslong as it is readable font if it is damaged or stained then it can be failed.