The Government annuounced today that it is doubling the current fixed penalties for not wearing a seat belt and for having illegal number plates.

At the moment the penalty for both of these is a £30 fixed penalty fine, from today it will be £60.

The Home Office minister Alan Campbell said "This is not about taking money from motorists, it’s about doing all we can to keep the public safe on our roads."



Really? Do we believe them? No one would disagree that seatbelts are a vital safety feature but number plates? Illegal number plates include using plates with the wrong font, size or colour. Not being properly spaced can also amount to an illegal plate. I have never really understood how a number plate that is spaced in a different way to spell a word can hamper police investigation. After all if Gordon Brown had a number plate RE51GND we would all be able to remember it.

I think that the vast majority of personal plates are just a bit of fun, if they are spaced a little wrong so what? it makes it easier to remember, from celebrity chefs James Martin's 6hef to Gym owner Duncan Bannatynes F1TSO they are all more memorable.

What does annoy me is when people go to stupid lengths to try and make a word out of numbers such as one putting a 1 and 5 together, changing the 5 a little, lean it, push it up to the 1 and hey presto you have an R!!? Those sort of plates should be fined but lets not pretend it's a road safety issue call it what it is - 'stupidity tax'

If the government were genuinely concerned that this was a road safety issue why do they sell number plates that are clearly going to be miss spaced on their own DVLA site? They make money when you buy them and fine you when you miss space them. Not a bad little earner.