I have a family member who's license plate started with "&". The DMV accepts it, plates were ordered online fine, but police systems can't handle it apparently, to my family members ultimate discomfort. I commonly joke it probably gets the individual out of automated tickers for speeding and red lights, but when an officer pulls them over we sometimes need to explain that the "&" is dropped in the system (or so we've been told) and that seems to clear up issues
In Washington State, you can register period-correct plates for your car. The problem is that you can't register the actual digits that are printed on the plate. The cops and cameras can't pull up your information, and you get stopped and questioned all the time. Explaining how the plates work to the Police gets pretty tiring.
Any word on whether the plate without the preceding '&' is in circulation? I'd be curious if your records in the police systems would be merged with the records of the owner of that plate.
The rules for california are the special symbols (which don't include &) are non-significant. Everything but the plate itself ignores them. Washington doesn't have special symbols, but does have an optional dash, which is also not significant.
I sometimes see California tags with a heart character in them. Does anyone know if those considered part of the number, or are they just ignored as decoration?
