Giant license plates are illegal, warns Thailand’s DLT

Thais love to modify their vehicles, but attaching a comically big license plate to your car is illegal, warns Thailand‘s Department of Land Transport (DLT).

The warning follows a viral TikTok clip of a pickup truck on the road featuring a regular license plate as well as a Phitsanulok province license plate so big it could probably be seen all the way from Yala.

According to Surachai Tubya, an official from the Phitsanulok Provincial Transport Office, the pickup truck’s owner violated Section 11 of the Motor Vehicle Act (1979)…

“A vehicle already registered shall contain and accurately display registration plate and sign as prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation.”

The Ministerial Regulation stipulates that license plates are required to be 15 centimetres wide and 34 centimetres long for cars, vans, pickup trucks, trailers, tractors, and agricultural vehicles.

It is also illegal to make your license plate in any instance, even if the vehicle is registered.

The Department of Land Transport launched an investigation and found that the pickup truck featured in the TikTok video is legally registered.

However, the owner still violated the law and will be fined 2,000 baht, said Surachai.

Last year, a major drug trafficking gang in Bangkok avoided capture for months by using a “license plate flipper” which they ordered from the internet for 30,000 baht.

The gang shifted a lot of drugs on four occasions and flipped their license plate to reveal fake numbers to confuse the police.

In October, police found two illegal Burmese immigrants stuffed in a tiny space under the cargo bed of a modified pickup truck in Tak province in northern Thailand.

The same month, a Thai man revealed that he made 50,000 baht every month by selling fake license plates.

The police warned the public that using a fake license plate in Thailand is punishable by imprisonment between six months and five years and a fine of 10,000 -100,000 baht.