have noticed your licence plate starting to bubble or peel

Toronto: If you have noticed your licence plate starting to bubble or peel off it could be due to a manufacturing defect that was first discovered almost three years ago. Sylvia Jones, MPP Dufferin-Caledon, says, “The government has known since September 2012 there were problems with peeling paint on licence plates, yet it has done nothing to resolve the manufacturing defect. Trilcor Correctional Industries produces the licence plates through an adult offender work program at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay.”

As the car owner, you will be held liable if your licence plate is unreadable, and will be obligated to replace your damaged licence plates. Also, if you are charged with having an illegible licence plates it will result in a $110 fine. Approximately 18,000 licence plates are brought in to Service Ontario a year because they are damaged.

Another PC MPP from Perth-Wellington, Randy Pettapiece, who is the critic to the Minister of Government and Consumer Services, has sent a letter to the Minister highlighting the problem and asking that the issue be resolved immediately.

If your licence plate has begun to bubble, peel off, fade or is experiencing wear and  tear, you can have them replaced free of charge as long as the plates are less than five years old. Take the damaged plates to a Service Ontario centre and bring a piece of identification (i.e. driver’s licence), proof of car insurance, and your vehicle permit. If your licence plates are older than five years it will cost $29 to have them replaced. But you will be given new numbers in place of old ones.