Potentially offensive plates banned

It’s the job of the DVLA to weed out any potentially offensive or rude license plates. This can be anything from swear words, to racist or drug related words or phrases. Rather surprisingly this job isn’t done by a computer but instead by a team of staff at the DVLA who meet twice a year to make a decision on which plates should be banned, and which can be allowed through. This censorship applies to standard plates and personalised plates too. Anything ending in 2 HAG or 2 LUT are banned. You won’t be allowed to have BU62 GER, SH12 HED or LE12 ZER.

Occasionally some plates do slip through the net and the DVLA do get complaints about offensive plates. If you choose a personalised plate that spells out something potentially rude or offensive you may be immediately told that it isn’t allowed, however if it does get through, you could still be made to remove it at a later date if it is brought to the attention of the DVLA, perhaps if someone has put in a complaint about it, as Alan Clarke of Chesterfield found out when he was ordered to remove his BO11 LUX plate just six weeks after he had bought it. However after an appeal the decision was reversed and Mr Clarke was allowed to keep his unusual personalised plate.

Have you seen any rude plates that have slipped through the net?