About Legal & Show Plates

Legal & Show Plates makes two distinct products: road legal number plates built to the BS AU 145e standard, and show plates for private events, rallies and off road use. We keep the two clearly separate, in how they're made and in what we tell customers about them, because they serve different purposes and only one of them is legal to drive on.

Made in house

We manufacture our own plates rather than outsourcing production. 4D characters are laser cut and CNC cut from acrylic and bonded to the plate so they sit proud of the surface. Standard and 3D Gel characters are printed, and our gel ranges add a resin dome over the printed or raised character for the deep, glossy finish customers ask for most. Every plate is checked against a BS AU 145e gauge before it's boxed, because character height, width and spacing are what actually gets a plate rejected at an MOT or a roadside check.

Keeping production in house means design changes, badge swaps and order corrections get handled quickly, without a plate sitting in a queue at a third party printer.

Road legal versus show plates

Whether a plate is road legal or show only comes down to how it's configured in our number plate maker: the font, spacing and colours chosen during the build. Our builder tells customers clearly which configuration they've selected before they order, so there's no ambiguity between a road legal design and a show only one.

Before we dispatch a road legal plate, we check the registration itself against a V5C or other entitlement document, to confirm the customer is entitled to that registration. Every road legal plate carries our supplier name, postcode and the BS AU 145e mark, as required by law. Show plates are built deliberately without that marking, since they're not intended for road use, and we're clear about that distinction on every relevant page rather than leaving it implied.

What we check before dispatch

• Character spacing measured against the BS AU 145e gauge
• Gel domes inspected under angled light for fill and bubbles
• 4D letters press tested at the corners
• Supplier marking present on road legal plates, absent on show plates
• Registration checked against the order and, for road legal plates, the entitlement document
• Rigid packaging, so plates aren't shipped in loose bags

Reviews

We currently hold 5.0 on Google from more than 300 reviews and 4.6 on Trustpilot. Delivery delays do come up occasionally, mostly around Christmas and postal disruption, and we'd rather acknowledge that than hide it. The consistent pattern across reviews is accurate plates, fast turnaround and a quick response when something needs fixing.

FAQs

Who makes the plates?
We do, in house: cutting, printing, gel doming and the BS AU 145e check before dispatch.

Do you check I'm entitled to the registration I order?
Yes. Every road legal order is checked against a V5C or other entitlement document before dispatch.

Do you sell number plate registrations?
No, we make physical plates only. Buying a private registration itself is a separate process through the DVLA. See our private number plates page for how the two fit together.

Are all your plates road legal?
No. Road legal plates meet BS AU 145e and carry supplier marking. Show plates are for display and off road use only, and we mark the difference clearly on every product page.