Since the introduction of “The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 “. It has been an offence to display number plates which do not comply with the above regulations , it is also an offence for a supplier to supply number plates which do not comply, every supplier must be registered with DVLA and they must print their name and post code on every number plate they make up. The supplier also needs to see I.D. and proof of entitlement to the registration number.
This is fine , you may think , but what about the people who want a novelty plate to put on a car or bike for use at a race track , car show , off road event etc , technically they cannot have such a plate made up as the supplier would be breaking the law. This is where “Show Plates" come in , if the customer signs a declaration that he will not be using the number plates when the vehicle is on the public road the supplier should be ok to space the digits however the customer wants and the requirements for proof of entitlement are not require because effectively the supplier is making a “sign“ not a number plate. The other alternative is to order on line form somewhere like N.Ireland where the legislation is not in force. Note that it is still an offence to display these plates on the public road.
There is some future legislation planned to further govern the supply and use of show plates , it’s rumoured that N.Ireland will be brought into line and show plates will have a different colour background , this to combat people who buy show plates and then use them on the public road because they habve bought a personalised registration number which requires mis-spacing before it makes any sense.