Reading that Autotrader reference, the BS AU 145e standard became law in September 2021 and are mandatory for 71-reg onwards (and possibly for all newly manufactured plates for earlier vehicles where black and white/silver aren't permitted). The government website states that raised lettering is permitted (as per post #4). It thus seems that those raised plates are permitted under '145e' and so are also allowed for 22-reg vehicles...The new rules are all part of a new standard of number plates. The old standard used BS AU 145d plates, which have been in use since September 2001, according to Autotrader. The new standard is BS AU 145e, and are being rolled out shortly.
Widely reported in the press but not apparently updated yet on DVLA site
Can't work out if the new rules apply to just new plates (2022) or we all have to change plates? Maybe it will be picked up at Mot?
Thanks for that. As all too common with Bristol Live, it would seem that they got it wrong. "The horse's mouth" is the Government themselves, and specifically, "The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) (Amendment) (EU Exit) (No. 2) Regulations 2020", which carries the reference to BS AU 145e in part A1 (1). The text of that standard is behind a paywall, so I haven't examined it. However, the British Number Plate Manufacturers' Association has some further into at https://www.bnma.org/news/2021-the-year-of-number-plate-changes/ , the government site states that raised lettering is permitted and the SI doesn't appear to forbid that. However, the use of shading to simulate raised lettering is explicitly not permitted...I got the information from https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/motoring/two-big-number-plate-rule-6718121
Which, along with other news articles, seems to infer new rules from march 2022. Won't affect me !