Display of Vehicle Registration Marks on Imported Vehicles (which have a restricted space for a standard sized number plate) Certain imported vehicles may be permitted to display number plates with smaller characters if: â?¢ The vehicle does not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval and â?¢ The vehicle's construction/design cannot accommodate standard size number plates Specifications for smaller sized plates (for certain imported vehicles) Character Height 64mm Character Width 44mm Character Stroke 10mm Space between characters 10mm but your uk spec so NUMBER PLATES FITTED AFTER 1 SEPTEMBER 2001 Number plates fitted after 1 September 2001 must display characters that meet the dimensions shown below. Characters Height 79mm Width (except the figure 1 or letter l) 50mm Stroke 14mm Space between characters 11mm Space between groups 33mm Top, bottom and side margins (minimum) 11mm Space between vertical lines 19mm The character width has been slightly reduced from 57mm to 50mm to accommodate the Euro-symbol on the number plate.