Red and White Plates

[clairelb]

What are these number plates – white with red letter/numbering?  I always thought they were for imported cars awaiting registering, but lately I’ve seen a fair few hitchhikers carrying them.  I’ve also seen one hanging over a ‘normal’ plate so am now confused.  Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks

[Oneeyedvic]

They are called trade plates and are difficult to get hold of unless you are in the trade.

They allw you to run a car without mot or tax for short periods.

I used to work for a finance company that had some, so that if we had a reepossesion, we could run it back to the office from whereever.

[Grunty]

...and the reason you see hitch-hikers with them is usually because they have just delivered a vehicle and want a lift home. 

[Loosehead]

Yeah they hold out the plate so that any other trade plater will know and pick them up. It's a sort of buddy scheme for car deliverers.

[KebabMeister]

It's not just a buddy system, each trade plate only covers one person for the vehicle they're riding in.  Legally if you have more than one person in a vehicle that requires trade plates, each person must carry their own trade plates.  So, when you see a guy hitchhiking with trade plates it also shows that he'll be legally covered by their insurance if you were to give them a lift. 

I'm not sure if the Police check on this sort of thing but if we were going long distances then we'd make sure to carry additional plates (i.e. long test drive).  We used to have about 6 sets of trade plates.

[c00ky83]

A house near me has numerous tax-less cars and trade-plates, which they use all the time.  I'm sure they're not in the trade, so I guess they're just crooks!

[patbrimallar]

they are what you call platers. they distribute cars though local networks to selling points. the number plates they use mean that any vehicle the are driving at the time are covered by their own firms insurance. hence a diff number plate. carfurn training