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DVLA FORCED TO PULL 'ANTI-GAY' PRIVATE NUMBERPLATES FROM AUCTION AFTER COMPLAINTS

The controversial Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has been forced to withdraw personalised numberplates from an auction after complaints they were offensive to the gay community.

The two registrations – F4 GOT and D1 KES – were to have been among 1,600 auctioned at a sale this week.

But Stonewall, the gay rights charity, objected to the DVLA profiting from the sale of the insulting numberplates and they were dropped from the auction, which is expected to raise £3.5million.

Stonewall argued that F4 GOT – due to go under the hammer for at least £900 – could, when displayed on a car, be read as ‘FAGOT’, a derogatory term used to refer to gay men.

Likewise, campaigners said, D1 KES could be read as ‘DIKES’ – similar to the insulting term ‘DYKES’ levelled at lesbians.

That plate also had a £900 reserve.

The registrations will still appear in the catalogue for the auction on Wednesday in a hotel in Broadway, Worcestershire.

But when the lots come up the auctioneer will announce that they are no longer for sale.

James Lawrence, of Stonewall, which is supported by a host of celebrities including comic Alan Carr, singer

Dannii Minogue and ex-EastEnders star Michael Cashman, said last night: ‘It is regrettable that personalised numberplates that could clearly cause offence were made available.

‘All publicly funded bodies should act appropriately when approving language that is potentially offensive to any community.’

The DVLA already bans other potentially offensive numberplates that could be doctored or might appear at first glance to spell out words related to terrorism, religion, sex or other provocative themes.

The agency’s list of so-called ‘suppressed combinations’ or ‘potentially sensitive registration marks’ includes 054MA, which could be seen to resemble the first name of Al Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden; H057 AGE (HOSTAGE), MA56 ACA (MASSACRE), HE58 0LA (HEZBOLLAH) and BU58 0MB (BUS BOMB).

Plates beginning with JE and ending HAD are also banned as they could could be interpreted as ‘JIHAD’, the Arabic term for holy war.

The ban also extends to combinations including 666 – seen by some as the symbol of devil worship.

But the rules on what is acceptable appear to have been relaxed at recent auctions where risqué marks including 701 LET – spelling the word ‘TOILET’ at a glance – have been sold.

The registration N4 KED in this week’s sale is expected to fetch upwards of £900 along with NUD 9E which should make at least £400.

Three million personalised plates have been sold by the DVLA since the scheme was launched in 1989.

Proceeds in the last financial year to March amounted to a staggering £80.7million and a similar amount is expected this financial year.

A DVLA spokesman said: ‘We have a responsibility to ensure that the combinations used on registration marks do not cause general upset or offence.

‘Having reviewed the appropriateness of the registration marks F4 GOT and D1 KES, we have withdrawn these marks on the grounds of the clear potential offence they may cause.’

The latest embarrassment to hit the DVLA follows our disclosure last week that the agency had launched an investigation into how the car registrations of millions of motorists were sold for use by giant oil firm Castrol.

The company spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on a campaign promoting its lubricants, using giant advertising billboards on five major routes in London.

Roadside cameras recorded numberplates before flashing the registration on to screens and revealing the grade of Castrol oil recommended for use in the car’s engine.

The planned two-week campaign, which raised safety fears, was halted after just four days.



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