Whiteboard registration plates on lorries

[Humpback]

Has anyone seen these recently? I noticed one blatant one a few weeks ago, and have started to notice more and more since.

It's basically a registration plate on the back of lorries that are the same as whiteboards that you get in offices. It looks like they're being used to put different registration numbers on these lorries.

The first one that I saw was most blatant. You could see the majority of the old registration number sort of wiped out, but with a new and different registration number overwriting it.

Has anyone else seen these? Does anyone know the reason for them? Are they legal?

 

[nai]

I don't think they are legal - given that they are not in the correct format.

The reason for them is that a trailer could be shared among a number of drivers or rigs - hence the need to change number plates.

 

[Carpenter]

I don't think they are legal - given that they are not in the correct format.

The reason for them is that a trailer could be shared among a number of drivers or rigs - hence the need to change number plates.

A lot of trailers (especially for continental work) would a special plate holder that allows permanent plates to be changed to match the tractor unit. I haven't seen these "whiteboard" plates.