Over 500 new ’76’ number plates have been banned by the DVLA before they can cause offence on UK roads.
Twice a year, a specialist panel for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency conducts a review of plate combinations and blacklists any that could be deemed inappropriate or provoke the public.
For example, last year, due to ongoing affairs, the DVLA banned combinations **25 RUS and **UKR, referring to Russia and Ukraine, along with other political references.
The decisions are reached based on what letters each number can appear to represent and the phrases they can spell out, whether it be mild swear words or serious racial slurs.
As a result, as well as combinations alluding to Gaza and Yemen, words such as ‘bomb’ are banned, plus the letters ‘STD’.
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Now, a new batch of sensitive combos has been forbidden with the arrival of the ’76’ plate, which poses challenges due to the number 7 possibly resembling an ‘I’, ‘T’, or ‘A’, and the number 6 used as a ‘B’ or ‘A’.
Consequently, the DVLA has removed hundreds of registrations referring to war, religion, violence, race, political messages, and sexual innuendos.
Among the 523 banned registrations are AA76 RYN, AU76 WTZ, SH76 GED, and WW76 NKR.
Also banned are BJ76 OOB, GO76 WAR, HH76 OMO, NA76 ZZE, and NU76 SAC.
While the DVLA makes ‘the vast majority’ of plate combinations available for use, they’re hot on spiking any that could be interpreted wrongly.
A spokesperson previously explained to Metro that ‘the DVLA withholds any combinations of numbers and letters where we consider that they may cause offence, embarrassment or are in poor taste’.
As for the penalty for cruising around with a non-compliant plate, it can be confiscated by police, and you can be fined.
Drivers may also fail their MOT as a result
Additionally, number plates must be clearly displayed and cannot be ‘rearranged or misrepresented to ‘form names or words, so that they are hard to read’.
This may include fixing bolts to change any of the characters.
Plates must comply with font and style requirements, too. This means using the Charles Wright 2001 font and having the legally required thickness, size, and spacing between letters.
Motorists who don’t properly display their registrations can be fined up to £1,000.
Most recent police data published last year shows that 21,683 drivers were recorded or stopped for illegal number plate offences in the UK in 2024.
The Metropolitan Police recorded the most incidents (6,158).
Previous figures from 2020 showed 13,720 drivers were stopped.
Full list of banned ’76’ number plates 2026
