THEY are bright, stylish –
and illegal.
And they are hot, so
much so that some car owners
are willing to risk a jail term of
up to three months just so they
could have number plates that
look good even though they do
not conform with Land Transport
Authority (LTA) stipulations,
such as European Union-
style ones.
The LTA told my paper that
726 drivers were caught in the
first four months this year for
such offences. For the whole of
last year, only 2,039 were
caught.
Car workshops told my
paper that such licence plates
are still flying off the shelves despite
the severe penalty.
On the average, the workshops
said they each receive between
35 and 50 requests per
month from drivers wanting to
switch to the illegal licence
plates – which can cost between
$40 and $65 each, depending
on the size and design.
Mr S. L. Teo, 32, from Autozone
Motoring, said: “There will
always be a demand for the nicer
ones that are illegal.
“The approved ones have too
many restrictions in terms of
how they should look and how
big they should be.”
Another workshop operator,
Deck Carcraft’s Jackson Kang,
27, said: “Customers are willing
to take the risk even after we tell
them the plates are not approved
ones.
“To them, how their car looks
is more important.”
Another reason smaller
plates appeal to drivers is to
avoid detection by the authorities.
Illegal plates that use reflective
fonts and contain ornamental
marks alongside the vehicle’s
registration number may make
it difficult to read the car’s licence
number when the vehicle
is moving, for example, when it
is involved in a hit-and-run accident.
A staff member of a workshop,
who declined to be
named, said: “The majority of
the drivers come with heavily
modified cars they use in illegal
races and the smaller the plates,
the harder it would be for the
Traffic Police to read them.”
According to LTA guidelines
on the One.Motoring website,
approved licence plates should
have letters and figures that are
70mm high, 50mm wide and
10mm broad.
However, illegal plates usually
have fonts that are between
10mm and 15mm smaller than
stipulated by the LTA.
A spokesman for LTA said
drivers caught with plates that
do not conform to requirements
face a fine of up to $1,000 or a
jail term of up to three months.
In addition, the drivers
would have to have the
defective plates made good
within seven days or risk facing
a maximum fine of $2,000 or
six months’ jail – the penalty for
repeat offenders.
darylldj@sph.com.sg
NO GO: Licence plates like the one on the left, in the European Union style, are illegal, unlike that on the
right which conforms to LTA requirements on lettering and size. (PHOTOS: THE STRAITS TIMES, STOMP)
Hundreds caught with illegal plates
Over 700 motorists hauled up in first fourmonths of this year alone
WITNESS the retailers and
business leaders who made
Orchard Road the premier
shopping belt it is today run a
torch relay at the Orchard
Road Business Community
Asian Youth Games Torch
Relay on Sunday.
The event, from 2pm to
4pm, is in support of the Asian
Youth Games and will kick off
at Tanglin Mall and end at
Istana Park.
Participants in the relay
include the executive director
of WingTai Asia, Ms Helen
Khoo, general manager of
Frasers Centrepoint Malls, Ms
Wendy Low, and marketing
manager of The Heeren Shops,
Mr Roland Lim.
To reward shoppers who
take part in the Orchard Road
festivities, all shoppers that day
will enjoy promotions like free
gifts from participating retailers
and malls such as Paragon
Shopping Centre, The Heeren,
Yoshinoya, Fish & Co., Metro,
Tangs, Dorothy Perkins,
G2000, Topshop and Fox.
Orchard Road
business leaders
for torch relay
GET to ascend Asia’s
first indoor climbing
wall in the new Orchard
Central mall in
Somerset Road.
Standing inside the
mall with an art
sculpture, Cloud, by
Spanish sculptor Iñigo
Manglano-Ovalle, the
five-storey-high wall
comprises a fixedprotection
climbing
path made out of a
system of cables which
allows unskilled
climbers to scale the
wall safely.
(PHOTO:
NEO XIAOBIN)
sINGAPORE
Go climb
wall in
this mall
