I REALISE that Alan Cookman's piece on 'illegal registration plates' on cars (Sentinel, March 15) was mostly tongue in cheek, but he didn't raise the most pertinent issues.

I don't think anyone would disagree that if a registration plate is 'doctored' to cover criminal behaviour, such as deceiving speed cameras or obtaining fuel without paying, then the person or persons concerned should be prosecuted.

However, the vast majority of personalised plates are not altered to cover criminal activity and the most common alteration is to change the spacing on the registration plate to make the letters and numbers make a word or name (or nearly). This action is still illegal but the question is why? If a camera or registration check shows the correct details of the owner then what is the problem?

The DVLA is actually complicit in this illegal action. It encourages people to purchase 'cherished plates' at a premium, knowing full well that the purchaser buying the plate will alter it only for the same DVLA to then warn the motorist that it is illegal to change the plate in any way. What hypocrisy!

For example, when Stoke City were promoted to the Premiership, the DVLA produced the plate S7 OKE, which was purchased at a charity auction (I believe) for several thousand pounds. No doubt the money was put to good use.

Perhaps the purchaser has already or would like to put together the plate as S7OKE, which would then make the plate illegal, but doing what harm, I may ask.

In the U.S. you can register any combination of letters and numbers within reason, as long as no-one else has an identical plate and you only need to display one registration plate on a car. There are more than five times the amount of cars in the U.S. than in Britain and they seem to manage, so why can't we have a similar system here?

Alan Cookman, left, may think that a personalised plate is a childish affectation, but then I could write an article on why I believe people with beards have deep-seated psychological problems, so each to their own.

If you look about while you are driving, and look at the ads for personalised plates in the newspapers and car magazines, you will conclude that there is no doubt that a demand exists. As motorists pay a totally unfair share of taxes in relation to the amount spent improving their daily problems on the roads, you would think that a government of one persuasion or other would put a little joy back into motoring while making even more money for Britain's empty coffers.

PETER MASKREY

Audley