Where do you get your official UK License Plates from -- Halfords?!

We need to get our new plates for our car.  My OH is saying to take a form to Halford's and they do it there...?!?!  Is that true?  We already have the registration number.  Cheers. 

I thought plates came with the car?  Are they replacements?

We brought our car with us when we relocated to the UK.  Yeah, so we need UK plates.  I'm really doubting that you can just walk into Halfords to have them made?!  Sounds to open to counterfeit plate-making, no?

We brought our car with us when we relocated to the UK.  Yeah, so we need UK plates.  I'm really doubting that you can just walk into Halfords to have them made?!  Sounds to open to counterfeit plate-making, no?

You could always check the DVLA site?

You could always check the DVLA site?

Wasn't it you who started the new customer service thread a few minutes ago?   
Just kidding.
Yeah, not into the DVLA anymore, plus my OH was there the other day and should know...but Halfords doesn't sound right.
Anyone done this before? 

Google seems to bring up lots of places.

Vicky

The number plates should be provided by the dealer (or wherever you're buying your car from)?

I did have to get mine replaced recently (minor shunt) and did a phone around a few garages, one of whom did make them on site.  They just needed the vehicle registration paperwork.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070717234742AAd7skj

Lots of places will make them. They should run a check to make sure you're the owner of the reg number.

It's a weird system over here where you can buy and sell registration plates and numbers within a certain set of rules. Sometimes they'll bring in big money. We've been offered around £800 for ours.

Lots of places will make them.

Try the local jail.

Lots of places will make them.

Try the local jail.

I tried there too but had to run!   
Thanks everyone.  Will call our mechanic for advice.

British plates have never been made and issued officially as in the U.S.   The appropriate authority assigns the number (local councils up until the 1970s, the DVLC/DVLA since then) then it's up to you to get the plates made up and fitted, which is why car accessory shops (including Halfords ) make them.  Dealers normally provide the plates for brand new cars before sale.

The fact that the plates are merely for displaying the assigned registration number and don't perform quite the same function as American plates means that they are traditionally referred to as simply "number plates" rather than "license plates."

There are rules about the size, spacing, and type of characters and the colors required (which vary depending upon the age of the vehicle), but until very recently there were no restrictions whatsoever about making them.  You could just walk into anywhere which made plates and ask for any number you liked.  That changed a couple of years ago, and shops are now required by law to see proof of your identity and proof that you have some entitlement to the number in question.   The same applies to mail-order suppliers. 

This applies only in England & Wales, however.   Scotland is still completely unrestricted in this respect, which rather makes a mockery of the whole "defeating counterfeit" idea behind the change of law when you can still get exactly the same plates sent by mail-order from Scotland with no questions asked!   

By the way, on imported vehicles you are allowed a smaller-than-usual plate where one of the standard British square or long plates won't fit (as will be the case if you have a recess designed for a regular 12x6" U.S. plate).

British plates have never been made and issued officially as in the U.S.   The appropriate authority assigns the number (local councils up until the 1970s, the DVLC/DVLA since then) then it's up to you to get the plates made up and fitted, which is why car accessory shops (including Halfords ) make them.  Dealers normally provide the plates for brand new cars before sale.

Thanks for this.  Very helpful and interesting too.   

More detailed information about the different number formats, which you might find interesting:   

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=17503.0

More detailed information about the different number formats, which you might find interesting:   

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=17503.0

Thanks Paul. I read that and it seems that they have tried to make things simple but it has become complicated.
I wonder if I came in with a temporary import (tourist) car and had no front licence plate, because it was not required in the US, how far would I get?
I posed a hypothetical question to a policeman about tinted windows and he said a car belonging to a tourist is required to comply with the UK law. Now I wonder about a French tourist car and yellow headlights? Maybe they don't have yellow headlights any longer so its a mute point?