There are a number of things which intrigue me about this ridiculous nonsense:
Very often the alterations made to �cherished� number plates make them extremely difficult to recognise properly. Bear in mind that they often have to be read quickly and sometimes under difficult circumstances.
With the exception of a few very distinctive examples, in many cases the alterations leave a plate which means little or nothing to anybody other than the owner. Joe Public is left scratching his head long after the vehicle has disappeared. This means that not only can the plate not be interpreted quickly as it should be, but it cannot be recognised for what the owner thinks it should say either.
I would normally dismiss this type of practice as a bit of harmless fun. However, it is not funny if, as a result, victims of accidents or Road Traffic offences are unable to pursue the matter because a vehicle could not be identified.
The law should be more rigorously enforced than it currently is. Making the offending vehicle an MoT failure is not enough (many people with �cherished� plates simply replace them with legal versions just for the test).