Well, here’s a new curve ball, and with a regulation item at that. Authorities have continued their enforcement on non-regulation licence plates, you know, the ones with fancy fonts or lettering smaller than that defined by law, as part of its broader action on traffic-related offences, and that’s a good thing.
However, some things do slip through on what’s permissible, especially if it’s purely based on visually gauging known size requirements, as a recent incident regarding a regulation JPJePlate shows. In a Facebook post, an EV user said he got a summons for his car displaying a “fancy/license plate not to specifications because the lettering is too small.”
That the fonts on the JPJePlate, which the motorist said was an original issue item, were actually smaller than the standard size had everything to do with it. When it was launched in September 2024, the JPJePlate, which is made of aluminium and features embossed black lettering on a white background, only had provisions for a normal-size font capable of handling up to eight characters, and that’s what most people usually see and are familiar with.
However, in October, Handal Ceria, the plate supplier, revealed that a new small-font version of the 52 x 11 cm sized JPJePlate – which remains for use on EVs only at present – able to hold up to 13 characters (letters + numbers) had also been approved for use. The smaller font is meant for number plates nine to 13 characters long, making provisions for special series plates such as XXVIASEAN, PUTRAJAYA and MALAYSIA.
Strangely enough, the vehicle registration in this case had eight alphabets/letters, but in an “XXX XXXX X” sequence, with the stamper likely making provisions for the necessary spacing by utilising the small font. In any case, the plate was recorded as an offence. Following the saman, the motorist proceeded to head down to the police station to have the ticket cancelled, only to be told it couldn’t, with the only option to have it cleared being to take it to court.
Could the particular reg have been done with the normal-sized font? Possibly, but that’s conjecture, not knowing what the tolerances and stamping process entails.
What is known is that the small-font is permissible for use and follows the necessary requirements, and given that, there shouldn’t be a summons if a plate is regulation issue and conforms to an outlined scope. We reached out to Handal Ceria, and was told that the matter has been escalated to the road transport department (JPJ).
The post EV owner gets <em>saman</em> for small font JPJePlate, but it’s legal – two font sizes are in use for the dedicated plate appeared first on Paul Tan’s Automotive News.
