UK registration plates conform to the 1998 European standard design, which requires white or yellow plates with black lettering. This EU standard also requires a blue strip on the left hand side of the plate, which contains the symbol for the European Union, with the code for the vehicle’s country of origin displayed below. This blue strip is not mandatory on UK registration plates and many drivers choose not to incorporate the EU symbol on their plates. Others have the blue strip on their plates, but rather than the EU symbol, they take the opportunity to display their country’s national flag above letters that denote the country, for example SCO for Scotland, CYM for Wales and ENG for England. These codes are not recognised or authorised internationally, but are allowed within the UK. A vehicle displaying one of these alternative plates must also display a GB sticker to identify the vehicle as British if it is being driven internationally.

Current standards, set out in the Road vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001, requires letters and numbers on UK registration plates to be 79mm in height. The typeface on motorcycle registration plates must be 64mm in height.

The font used on registration plates is known as ‘Charles Wright 2001′, which is an updated version of the original Charles Wright font from 1935. The width of the characters has been reduced from 57mm to 50mm to allow space for an extra character and the optional EU blue strip.