A Plate That Slipped Through: The Viral Case

Why Do So Many Plates Get Rejected?
To appreciate how remarkable this viral plate is, one must understand what rules and standards the authorities use to reject custom license plates—and how many fail to pass them.

The Criteria for Rejection
In Western Australia and many places with personalized plates, the review body evaluates each proposed plate combination against criteria such as:

Whether it can be interpreted offensively or derogatorily
Whether it contains or hints at references to drugs, violence, sexual content
Whether it can be read in reverse, mirror view, or stylized font to yield inappropriate meanings
Proximity to existing plate series or confusion with normative plates
Use of protected names, trademarks, or mandated exclusions (e.g. military, religious, government references)
General public decency or “community expectations”
In the case of WA’s transport authority, for example, many plates are knocked back under those rules for being lewd, rude, or crude. The West Australian+2NT News+2 Examples of rejected plates include RAMP4GE, SAUC3D, F4K3 T4X1, and BUYAGRAM. NT News+2The Chronicle+2