Sir, – It’s no wonder that there are so many illegible car number plates on the road when they are treated as fashion accessories and there is no control over their manufacture.
Here in Malta, number plates are supplied exclusively by the Transport Department, and feature a hologram for security and the characters are in the standard German typeface.
Ireland’s biannual, sequential numbering system is cumbersome, resulting in up to 11 characters on a plate. There is no need to identify the county of initial registration, and online databases now provide detailed history for would-be buyers.
Perhaps the logistical genius of the Passport Office can be applied to the centralised issuing of standard number plates? – Yours, etc,
RM Block
Dr ALEX HARTINGTON,
Sliema,
Malta.
