Vicroads snowflake offended at custom plate WEPN

[aussiblue]

I think people will have to accept that this is the new standard of [non] acceptability and move on. There are much more important things in life than personalised number plates.

https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/vic...-number-plates

Street Machine contacted VicRoads for comment, and the following statement was issued:

“We review number plate combinations from time to time and we occasionally recall number plates that may be deemed inappropriate or offensive. VicRoads checks tens of thousands of new number plate combinations each year to prevent offensive or inappropriate plates being issued. We also reserve the right to recall number plates that may later be deemed offensive, disrespectful to the law or are inappropriate for display, such as plates that reference violence.”​

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/sto...4231#gsc.tab=0

A man has vowed to take his fight to keep his classic car's number plate through the courts if he has to after VicRoads told him they had to go.

Peter Hansen's plight to save his WEPN plates has attracted plenty of media attention and led to a change.org petition which has already attracted more than 8800 signatures.

The personalised plates have been on his 1971 LC Torana since 2010 after his wife's family gave them to him as a gift.

Mr Hansen uses the car at Portland's South Coast Raceway drag racing events, to display at car shows and for the odd trip to the supermarket.

If he's taking it to display at a car show that is more than 100kms away, Mr Hansen - a sandblaster and spraypainter by trade - will put it on a trailer so the paintwork doesn't get chipped by loose gravel from the road.

He had planned to use his HZ Holden to tow the Torana, and his wife had applied to get WEPN2 licence plates to match as a present for his birthday next month.

But VicRoads rejected the application, and then days later also cancelled the plates he'd had on the Torana for 10 years.

Mr Hansen said he had gone through the appeals process, was awaiting a response from the ombudsman and will lodge it with the Victorian Civil Administration Tribunal.

"I'll got to court if I can. They can offer me money to go away tomorrow. It's not about the money," he said. "At the end of the day all I want is my number plates back on the principle of the matter."

Mr Hansen said there had been no complaints about his number plate.

A Department of Transport spokesperson said number plate combinations were reviewed from time to time and occasionally recalled those that may be deemed inappropriate or offensive.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/861204/...promote-speed/

State transport authorities are starting to clamp down on personalised number plates that could be interpreted as being offensive or promoting speed.

A Facebook user this week claimed he was knocked back by Queensland Transport when he requested personalised number plates that suggested his car was "quick".

"I just had a phone call from PPQ regarding new number plates I ordered online the other day," the anonymous Facebook user wrote.

"The gentleman told me they have a directive from Queensland Transport that any plate that has fast or quick on it is banned."

A spokesperson for the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads told CarAdvice "While particular words such as ‘speed’, or similar words, are not explicitly prohibited under the policy, customers are strongly encouraged to choose plates that are not contrary to road safety outcomes or community standards."

Literary expert and Melbourne-based university lecturer Tim Coronel said some motorists might be attempting humour rather than trying to glorify speed.

"I can’t see that a number plate that can be read as ‘quick’ is encouraging speeding or other dangerous behaviour," said Mr Coronel. "It could be quite funny if (a number plate with a speed reference) goes on an old Morris Minor or something similarly not-at-all-quick." Meanwhile VicRoads has advised Victorian motorist Peter Hansen the number plates 'WEPN' (weapon) – that were fitted to his 1971 Holden LC Torana for a decade – will be cancelled.

“Most cars that are show cars are like wrestlers, or there’s a persona about the name," he told Radio 3AW's Neil Mitchell.

“It’s not Peter Hansen that gets invited to the SummerNats (car show), it’s WEPN.

A spokesperson for the Victorian Department of Transport told CarAdvice: "We review number plate combinations from time to time and we occasionally recall number plates that may be deemed inappropriate or offensive.”

“We also reserve the right to recall number plates that may later be deemed … disrespectful to the law or are inappropriate for display, such as plates that reference violence," the spokesperson said.
NSW gets tough on personalised plates

In recent years authorities in NSW cancelled the personalised plate "MEOC" that was fitted to a Ford Mustang, as it was seen as taunting police. The letters were the acronym for the NSW Police Middle Eastern Organised Crime (MEOC) squad.

Transport for NSW says offensive plates such as AW55HT, SHI33T, 8ITCH, and HU55Y had been requested by motorists in recent years but approval was denied and the plates were never made.

A Transport for NSW spokesperson said personalised number plates were monitored for combinations that use offensive language, promote unsafe driving or drinking, or are of a religious, violent, explicit or sexual nature.
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